fe»^?et^«*-! 
 
 ■.ii«r:;*fl?>C| 
 
 ?mmmm m.mWf.iio -f,-mfm it*m t^^ 
 
 ■#i 
 
 W O L 
 UNTER' 
 
 I SK 283 
 f .C79 
 Copy 1 
 
 ■K^ wti««»r^a.«*i«rr 
 
 lai T Hi rrrriTTTrrr— 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 ^'^'^P- - Copyright No. 
 
 Slielf...C.1i, 
 
 liNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
CORBIN'B ADVICK 
 
 The Wolf Hunter's Guide 
 
 Tells Ho-w to Catch 'Em and 
 
 All About the Science of Wolf Hunting 
 
 ii^ BWuN, CORBIjS' 
 
 BISMARCK, N. D.: 
 
 THE TRIBUNE CO., PRINTERS. 
 1900 
 
I ! 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
THE AUTHOR IN HIS EARLY DAYS 
 
G2G8 
 
 t.iv»r<*cy of Congjrose 
 
 Two C(>H€s Received 
 JUN 15 1900 
 
 Cc^ /right entry 
 
 «o./2> ?L./^7 
 
 FIRST COPY. 
 
 2ti4 Copy Oeliv«re4 to 
 
 ORDER DIVISION 
 
 , JUN 16 1900 
 
 •M0ND OOPY. 
 
 ^3304 
 
 Copyrighted by . 
 BEXJAMIN CORBIN 
 
 1900 
 
F»RKKACK 
 
 Benjamin Corhin, the Boss IVolf Hunter; His Life 
 and Adventures. 
 
 A plain blunt man of little learning, except that education 
 received in the war for the union, as common soldier, and 
 in communion with nature in her fields and forests, and 
 along her streams of sparkling water, or in her mountains 
 and valleys, and over her snows and ice, or under her blis- 
 tering suns, and in the presence of her wildest living 
 creatures, m>3n and animals, I venture now to put my life 
 on paper, as I have often put it on the cast of a die through 
 sights of a rifle before savage man and savage beast. 
 
 It will not be a literary performance. 
 
 I have always loved nature and stuck close to her, and 
 I will try to do it in this book. 
 
 If I have read my Bible correctly, Abraham was one of 
 the first shepherds. In Genesis we read that he was rich 
 in cattle, in silver and in gold — something like the ranch- 
 men and stockmen of North Dakota. Indeed the pastoral 
 life preceded every other profession. The Patriarchs were 
 all shepherds. Every prayer to the Lord was accompan- 
 ied by a sacrifice from the flocks and herds. When Abra- 
 ham dug a well, and there was a dispute about it, he set- 
 tled the whole thing with seven ewe lambs, and called the 
 place An Oath. Those shepherds wandered from place to 
 place wherever there was the best pasture, just as we do in 
 Dakota, any more than the land of Canaan was nothing to 
 be compared with Dakota for grazing. When Jacob went 
 a courting, he hadn't a thing but a shepherd's crook, but 
 before he returned he had two wives, and flocks and herds 
 beyond computation. Even in later times a young fellow, 
 who was out tending a flock, was called to be King of Israel, 
 about the only good king we ever had — that was David. 
 He was keeping sheep that very day. He had guarded the 
 flocks from the ravages of bear and wolf and lion, and 
 slain them with his own hands, and yet he made a good 
 
soldier, a peerless king, and the greatest poet that ever 
 lived. Later on, we should never forget that the Star of 
 Bethlehem was first seen by the shepherds, tending their 
 flocks by night. Virgil first sang the praise of shepherd 
 life in his bucolics, before he sang the praise of the arms 
 and the man. All sacred and classic history is replete with 
 descriptions of Pastoral Life. All the world knows that 
 astronomy was first made a science by the shepherds, watch- 
 ing the moving grandeurs of the skies. 
 
 In the New Testament, the parable of the Good Shepherd 
 shines like a star. If Jesus did not disdain to call himself 
 the Good Shepherd, why should any man in Dakota not 
 be proud to be called by that name, or to be associated as 
 I am, with the men who are feeding their flocks on the 
 rich and abundant pastures of this great commonwealth? 
 Largely, my life has been spent in protecting these flocks 
 against the incursions of ravenous beasts of prey. I know 
 it is but a step and the first step, which counts in the 
 march of civilization. God made the country, but man 
 made the town — and some of these towns are pretty tough, 
 like most of men's work. I can not believe that Providence 
 intended that these rich lands, broad, well watered, fertile 
 and waving with abundant pasturage, close by mountains 
 and valleys, filled with gold, and every metal and mineral, 
 should be forever monopolized by wild beasts and savage 
 men. I believe something in the survival of the fittest, 
 and hence I have "fit" for it all my life. Civilization is a 
 fine thing, and it may spreaa itself like a green bay tree in 
 the cities, and lordly mansions of the millionaires, with 
 all their silks and broadcloths, but it has to have plenty 
 of beef and pork and mutton — yes, yes, and wool too, and 
 plenty of it. But my lord and lady would go bare-footed, 
 and that would be bad form, and naked, and that would 
 be worse, and empty, and that would be awful, if somebody, 
 somewhere and somehow, would not send them leather, 
 and wool and beef and mutton. But the herds and flocks 
 must be raised and protected here for my lord and lady, 
 if it takes the last man and the last dollar. The wolf don't 
 like them, and I trust the wolf will never come near their 
 doors, or that any of them will turn out " wolves in sheep 
 clothing," but if he comes near mine I will take him in, 
 and it will be the saddest day of his life. That's why I am 
 here. The wolf is the enemy of civilization, and I want to 
 exterminate him. If he eats up the flocks, where are your 
 
wool and mutton to come from, and what's the use of a 
 tariff on wool, and free trade in wolves? I would place the 
 duty higher on both. 
 
 But I forget — this is not the book — this is but the preface 
 to my book, and I must cut the thing shor- as I would the 
 whole wolf population of the west, if I could, and I guess I 
 can, and before you read this book half through you sihall 
 know that I can better than any man that ever walked the 
 earth. That is pretty big talk, but I have the record, as a 
 wolf-exterminator, and no man will dispute it. I hope to in- 
 terest you in this book, and in the lives of those gentle and 
 harmless creatures here, who furnish your abundant ward- 
 robes, and cuisine, and labor, with all the comforts and 
 luxuries of fashion and necessity, far away from here in 
 your homes of wealth and pride. I hope you will not only 
 buy the book, but pay for it, and not lend or borrow it — 
 and I know you would not steal it — and then read it and 
 learn something of what it costs to ward away the wolves, 
 which would destroy the flocks. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 BRIEF SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR. NECESSITY OP 
 PROTECTING THE GREAT STOCK INTERESTS 
 OF THE STATE. 
 
 Perhaps no name is more familiar to the stockmen and 
 wool growers of North Dakota than that of honest old 
 Ben Corbin, the champion wolf hunter of the northwest. 
 Mr. Corbin is no novice in the business of hunting, trap- 
 ping and shooting the enemies of the flocks and herds. 
 As the saying is, he served his time and learned his trade 
 by hard work and many years experience. 
 
 Born in Virginia on April 26, 1835, he is now 65 years of 
 age; but his eye is not yet so dimmed or his physical force 
 so abated that he cannot bring down with his trusty 
 Winchester rifle a deer or wolf that, is 100 or 200 yards off 
 as well as he could twenty years ago. When a boy of 16 
 he removed with his father's family to Coschocton county, 
 Ohio, then quite a new country, and regarded as being 
 far away in the west from the Old Dominion. It was 
 really a bigger trip then than a voyage to Europe or a 
 railroad ride across the continent would be now, and 
 Ohio has shifted from the west until it is now regarded as 
 being pretty far in the east, if we look at it from the sun- 
 set land of the Rockies and the Cascades. After a stop 
 of four years in Ohio, Ben shifted his residence to Wayne 
 county, Iowa, where he hunted and trapped until the civil 
 war broke out, when he enlisted in Company "F," 34th 
 Iowa infantry. He was a gallant soldier for three years, 
 and when the war closed he was honorably discharged, 
 returning to his old home in Iowa and resuming his former 
 occupation of hunter and trapper. At that time north- 
 western Iowa was being rapidly settled, and was fllling up 
 with flocks and herds, for sheep, wool and live stock 
 generally commanded splendid prices. Free trade had not 
 yet got in its deadly work on the American market, and in 
 those days — the golden age of the farmer — the wool growers 
 and stock raisers were making money. Protected in- 
 dustry made good times everywhere and in every line of 
 business, and Mr. Corbin was making hay while the sun 
 was shining. Then, as now, he believed in high protection, 
 and, the country being full of wolves, he devoted his 
 time and energies to their destruction. Iowa at that time 
 was paying a bounty for every wolf destroyed, and soon, 
 figuratively speaking, Corbin had eighty wolf scalps hang- 
 ing to his belt, captured in the counties of Lyon, Sioux, 
 
 k 
 
10 Corhin's Advice ; Or, 
 
 Woodbury and Monon. It paid the flockmasters and the 
 people to give this bounty, for otherwise, their flocks and 
 herds would have been at the mercy of the wolves, which 
 abounded in that region. 
 
 In the year 1883 our champion wolf-scalper, moved by the 
 same spirit of immigration which carried brigades and 
 divisions of the union veterans farther west, picked up 
 his rifle and his traps and removed to Stark county, in the 
 then vast and wild territory of Dakota. Here he and his 
 son Peter — since deceased — in one season killed 132 deer 
 and antelope and 45 beaver. They found ample scope and 
 opportunity for the development of their skill as profes- 
 sional and expert hunters; and the business was quite re- 
 munerative, too, for the deer and antelope brought them 
 from $3 to $13 per head and the beaver about $6 per pelt. 
 
 For the past fifteen years our old hero has mainly plied 
 his occupation in the county in which he now resides — Em- 
 mons. North Dakota. This part of the great northwest 
 is remarkably well adapted to grazing, and abounds in 
 sheep and other live stock. Indeed, North Dakota is a 
 veritable paradise for sheep. Number in 1899, 2(>j,94'2; 
 number of wolves in .1899, 343,000— femalesi 171,500; in- 
 crease, 857,500; total 1,200,400. 
 
 With grass, grain and water abundant, and an atmos- 
 phere and climate remarkably well adapted to the success 
 of these industries, and with grain unprofitably low all 
 over the world, the raising of cattle and sheep is the main 
 dependence. The flockmasters of North Dakota and of 
 the northwest generally are about to witness the dawning 
 of a brighter day, and are carefully watching their flocks 
 and herds, with the confident hope and expectation that a 
 protective tariff will soon restore the old remunerative 
 prices, and consequently, their old-time prosperity. They 
 see in the returns of the recnt elections the assurance that 
 the tariff, which once made their flocks and herds a valu- 
 able investment, will soon be revived. 
 
 able investment, will soon be revived. Remember, the wolf 
 is cunning and sly and hard to catch. Novices and amateurs 
 cunning and sly and hard to catch. Novices and amateurs 
 have no business with the wolf, unless they are first in- 
 structed in the habits of the animals and the mode of their 
 capture. The wily brute will "laugh" at them. It takes 
 an expert hunter to catch the wolf; and this, in plain Eng- 
 lish, he cannot be unless the state pays a bounty to reim- 
 burse and make a reasonable profit for the man who has 
 paid an expert to teach him the secrets of the business and 
 explain to him the "signs" left by the animals, without a 
 knowledge of which wolf-hunting as an occupation would 
 be unremuncrative. 
 
 There is such a thing as being "penny wise and pound 
 foolish" — "letting in at the spigot and out at the bung-hole." 
 This is not economy. It is a waste of time and money to 
 reduce expenditures where the returns are as sure and as 
 
The Wolf Hunter^s Guide. H 
 
 beneficial as they are here. I repeat that, on grounds of 
 public policy, hunters like Ben Corbin should be stimulated 
 and encouraged to perform the public function of assisting 
 in destroying an enemy as persistent and annoying and ex- 
 pensive as the wolf. Were the state invaded by an armed 
 foe, who would question the policy of offering a bounty to 
 volunteers, as the igovernment did during the civil war, to 
 drive out the common foe? One not less dangerous, not 
 less common, than such a hostile force, threatens to destroy 
 one of the peaceful and most prolific and honorable indus- 
 tries of the state. Is it not the duty of the state— that is, 
 of its citizens collectively— the legislature— to assist in the 
 expulsion of the enemy? "What is everybody's business 
 is nobody's business." It must be done by a system. It 
 must be done for the common good. The state must take 
 the matter into its own hands for the common weal. 
 
 I know that it is argued that every man owes it to him- 
 self to "keep the w^olf from the door." The quotation is 
 not applicable in this case. It is quite another thing from 
 keeping him from a neighbor's door. It is the general 
 welfare that states are organized to protect, and they can- 
 not descend to private, particular concerns. 
 
 On the other hand, the private individual is not obliged 
 to care for the interests of the whole state, beyond his part 
 and proportion of public duty, and his public duty is per- 
 formed when he shares his money or labor with the state 
 in the shape of taxes. His interests are bound up with the 
 state, and, having received his money or labor in the shape 
 of taxes, the state is in duty bound to protect all his rights 
 in person and property, let the cost be what it may. What 
 greater enemy can they have? 
 
 HE KNEW BETTER. 
 
 From Philadelphia comes a story of a hospital orderly 
 possessed of more brawn than brain. The man was an 
 Irishman, only recently employed, and one night the resi- 
 dent physician told him to be on hand by 11 o'clock to take 
 to the deadhouse the body of a consumptive patient who 
 could not live past that hour. 
 
 Upon the stroke of the clock Dennis was on hand. The 
 night nurse was in another part of the ward, and the pa- 
 tient was, to all appearances, dead. Dennis and his asso- 
 ciate tossed the body upon a stretcher and carried it out. 
 In the hall the cold air revived the sufferer from the effects 
 of "the hypodermic" which had been administered. 
 
 "Where are you taking me?" he asked. 
 
 "To the deadhouse, of course," replied Dennis; "where 
 the devil else d'ye think I'd be after takin' you?" 
 
 "But I'm not dead," protested the patient, starting up. 
 
 "Lie down this minit!" protested the orderly. "It's 
 great cheek ye have! D'ye think ye know more about it 
 than the doctor?" 
 
12 Corbiti's Advice'; Or, 
 
 CHAPTER II. . 
 
 THE WOLF AND THE DAMAGE HE DOES TO DO- 
 MESTIC AND WILD ANIMALS. HOW I BECAME 
 A HUNTER. 
 
 The wolf is a four-legged animal, very cunning and sly — 
 always has plenty to eat for he don't have to buy it. He 
 is about the size of a shepherd dog and is a fast runner, a 
 good fighter and is hard to catch and like some men, looks 
 very sheepy. He is very fond of ham, especially the mutton 
 ham. They outwit a man in one respect. When they want 
 to rest they lie down, while the men will lie standing up. 
 
 The gray or the paririe wolf commonly called the coyote, 
 is very trouolesome in all western states, killing colts, 
 calves, pigs and all kinds of poultry. They hunt mostly 
 in packs and destroy great numbers of deer in the stiff 
 snows of winter, sometimes slaughtering whole herds in a 
 single night. The sheepfold of the frontier farmer also 
 suffers from their depredations. They feed on almost all 
 the smaller anim.als they can overpower. Troops of them 
 have been known to pursue and attack men. When hunt- 
 ing in packs and pressed with hunger, they are bold and 
 exceeding ferocious. At other times, when roaming 
 singly, they are sneaking and cowardly. The grey wolf of 
 this country, which may be taken as the standard of size, 
 is about four feet long from the point of the nose to the 
 root of the tail; the length of tail being about seventeen 
 inches. In the far north they are very large, sometimes 
 measuring six and one-half feet in total length, and weigh- 
 ing one hundred and fifty pounds. 
 
 In the ranching districts of North America today it is 
 variously estimated that each grey wolf costs the cattle 
 men from fifty to five hundred dollars annually. 
 
 The wolf-hunter has to cope with an animal of almost 
 human intelligence, an animal without superior in sagacity 
 among all the wild beasts of the chase, and one which will 
 tax his utmost ability to circumvent. 
 
 I am a. hunter by birth, a veritable nimrod from away 
 back. My father hunted redskins with Daniel Boone and 
 counted the notches on his gunbarrel, a notch for every 
 scalp, fourteen in all. Our cattle got fat on huckleberries 
 in the mountains in those days, and father herded and 
 
The Wolf Hunter'' s Guide. 
 
 13 
 
 salted them there. The wolf bounty was $20 on old wolves, 
 and $10 on pups under six months old. Father used to hear 
 the wolves howl and it made him smile when he was camp- 
 ing out; for he knew there were dollars for him in every 
 howl. Every few days a calf was missing. The state of 
 Virginia paid $5, the county $5, and stockmen made it $20, 
 and put the money in bank, snug and safe, for any one who 
 killed a wolf in Hampshire county. 
 
 It was all gold, silver and poor paper notes those days. 
 A wolf den was worth $50 tO' $150 if you got the male, 
 female and offspring. My father did not carry a shepherd's 
 crook but a gun, while herding cattle; for deer, bear and 
 wolves abounded there. His gun had a flint lock, mind 
 you. I learned to shoot with it. Many a time it snapped, 
 and I would lick the frisen and try again. But with that 
 old fusee he njade $125 one day at three shots. In the 
 morning he shot a bear, and sold it to a big Jim Parsons 
 for $5. At the second shot he killed the she wolf for which 
 he got $25, and ripping her open, got her eight kids. That 
 beats me for I never got but $5 at one shot. His third shot 
 took the old male worth $20 more. 
 
 There's money in wolf hunting if you only know how. 
 When I was a boy, I fairly lived in the woods, and had a 
 hankering after game. Hearing father tell about making 
 money catching wolf and bear, and crawling under rocks 
 after them, and shooting them, and tying a hickory withe 
 around their necks, and have two men pull him out while 
 he hauled the bear or wolf out, too, it encouraged me to go 
 into the business. I did the same trick once, but will 
 never try it again. At Long Lake Creek I shot the old 
 wolf fifteen times before I killed her with a 22 Winchester. 
 On Apple Creek while I was setting the hook, the bank fell 
 
 OLD WOLF AND KIDS ON OUTSIDE OF DEN 
 
 in behind me, and it was all I could do to dig out, yet our 
 county commissioners want me to kill wolves for $1 or .$2 
 a head and run the risk of being eaten alive. If they read 
 my book through they will change their tune. The Savior 
 picked his twelve out of fishermen and the like, and yet got 
 
14 
 
 Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 
 
 one devil — if he had gone into any other class, I suspect 
 the whole dozen would have been like Judas. 
 
 I sleep easy nights and am growing fat, while I watch the 
 increase in Lhe wolf industry, that costs me no more than 
 the grass that grows. If you are strong, have a clear head, 
 a good liver and know how, you can make money catching 
 wolves all the year 'round, provided the state, the county 
 and the stockmen, who have their millions in live stock, 
 pay a decent bounty on wolves. 
 
 I have made $40 a day. My average last year was five 
 wolves per day, but the bounty was only $1.45 a head, 
 with 50 per cent off for cash. I can catch wolves twelve 
 
 PULLING OUT OF DEN WHEN ABOUT ONE MONTH OLD 
 
 xiifferent ways, yes, and all sorts of game. I was in Iowa 
 when ths war broke out and if any of the 34th Iowa boys 
 read this, they will testify that the Wolves didn't eat all 
 the sheep "as we were marching through Georgia." We 
 got twenty sheep when we drove the Johnnies back from 
 Alexandria on Red River. I think that was the best mut- 
 ton I ever tasted. I can taste it yet — and I suppose Uncle 
 Sam is still paying thousands of dollars for those sheep. 
 
 A young wife remonstrated with her husband, a dissi- 
 pated spendthrift, on his conduct. "My love," said he, "I 
 am like the prodigal son; I shall reform -by-and-by." 
 "And I, too, will be like the prodigal son," cried she. "I 
 will arise and go to my father;" and accordingly off she 
 went. 
 
 Mr. Jenkins playfully remarked to his wife that in her 
 he possessed four fools. "Who are they?." she asked. 
 "Beauti-fool, duti-fool, youth-fool, and delight-fool," said 
 he. "You have the advantage of me, my dear," she replied, 
 "I have but one fool." 
 
The Wolf Hunter'' s Gtdde. 15 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE WOLx'' BOUNTY. REASONS WHY IT SHOULD. 
 NOT BE LESS THAN $5. 
 
 In a careful search of the statutes enacted by several, 
 states for the past half century or more, I have found that 
 less than $5 has seldom been offered for each wolf or coy- 
 ote killed. It would seem, from the testimony of the laws; 
 on the subject and from the experience of old hunters, 
 that $5 is about the least that the service can be done for. 
 If there is a market price at which any labor can be per- 
 formed, why should not this business have its market 
 price, also? The measure is this: What is the least 
 that good service can be obtained for in any industry? 
 Ascertain this and it becomes the wage rate for that kind 
 of labor — its fixed average value — by every canon of indus- 
 trial economy. 
 
 If the state will pay .$5 for each wolf killed, let the county 
 bounty go for it is fairer for the state than for the county 
 to pay it. But with a county interest in it, bringing it 
 nearer home to the hunters — and there may be more urgent 
 reasons for prosecuting the business in some sections of the 
 state than in others — I would let the county bounty stand 
 at from $2 to $3 and the state bounty at from .$.5 to $10, and 
 thus insure a constant and unremitting warfare on these 
 destructive pests. Sheep cannot increase in a ratio of 
 more than two to one annually, while the wolf population 
 is augmented by from 600 to 800 per cent each year, and in 
 a little while there will be overwhelming numbers of them 
 unless the work of destruction is vigorously encouraged 
 and prosecuted. It matters little to the hunters where 
 the pay comes from, so that it comes sure; but, without It, 
 certain ii is that the necessary work of extermination will 
 not be done at all. 
 
 Thus all the money hitherto paid in state bounties for 
 killing wolves will be ultimately lost. Infested in most 
 parts with packs of wolves, the state will soon be overrun 
 with them. No animal is more prolific or cares more for 
 its young. It is nothing strange for a female wolf to have 
 from six to nine cubs at a litter. Why, even now, people 
 have to watch their flocks carefully — in the daytime, even — 
 to keep the wolves away from them. 
 
 Not only are they dangerous to sheep, but they destroy 
 many colts and calves each year. They are now growing 
 
16 CorbiiVs Advice : Or, 
 
 bolder, because of the fact that they are hunted no longer, 
 or, at least, very little, and they are quick to discover the 
 fact. There are instances where they have attacked 
 children going to and from school. There is nothing un- 
 common, also, for packs of howling wolves to enter the 
 barnyards of the farmers and steal their poultry, which is 
 now about the most vaiuable stock that they can raise on 
 the farm. In these several items hundreds of thousands of 
 dollars are lost each year. 
 
 It is not argued that the restoration of the state bounty, 
 or even $5 a head for old wolves and $3 for cubs, would 
 absolutely protect all these interests. Certainly not. 
 Even with the exercise of the utmost care and caution, 
 many depredations by wolves would still occur. But the 
 fact is patent that the restoration of the state bounty would 
 encourage the hunting and trapping of these destructive 
 brutes, and go a long way toward securing at least a par- 
 tial protection to all domestic animals. With the fecund- 
 ity of the wolf as great as it is, there is no other way to stop 
 their increase. It will not do to say that the stockmen 
 should be left to do the necessary work themselves, and 
 that if they do not protect their own sheep they should lose 
 them. This is a narrow and selfish view of the matter. 
 A question of public policy, of justice and of fairness comes 
 in and requires the state to protect the general interests of 
 the people and defend them from every public enemy; and 
 what greater enemy can the state have than one that is able 
 to wage war on the state's chief industry both day and 
 night. 
 
 I am convinced that no appeal for a wolf bounty can be 
 put too strongly to every board of county commissioners 
 and to the legislature of our great and grov/ing state. 
 North Dakota is, as I have said, a paradise for stockmen. 
 It has no peer on this continent. It is attracting capital 
 from the worn-out fields of Ohio, Pennsylvania and the 
 eastern states. But it must not be forgotten that in at 
 least two-thirds of the state the chief attraction to capital 
 is for investment in live stock, to be cared for and pasture 
 to perfection on our cheap and fertile lands. In a few 
 words, in a great part of the state it is stock or nothing. 
 If those of us who live in that greater part cannot have 
 this interest protected, we might as well pack our traps 
 and leave. It is poor encouragement to eastern capital to 
 take down the barriers which protect and defend our chief 
 industry. New England protects and fosters her fisheries 
 and her factories; New York wisely guards her commerce, 
 finance and trade; Pennsylvania devotes her tenderest care 
 to her mines and mills, and Ohio keeps one eye open to the 
 protection and welfare of her great industry of making 
 presidential possibilities; Colorado and Montana look well 
 to their silver interests; Alabama and the cotton belt guard 
 the throne of King Cotton; Iowa for corn; California for 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 17 
 
 gold and fruits. But North Dakota — the promised land of 
 the shepherd and the herdsman — proposes now to uncon- 
 ditionally surrender her greatest industry to the wolves! 
 If we prefer wolves to cattle and sheep and eastern capital 
 — if we would destroy the flocks already here and keep 
 others out, and give our state a bad name among its 
 friends — why, then, let us discourage the wolf bounty, and, 
 to save a few dollars, throw millions away, 
 
 I was much impressed with Mr. Corbin's quiet humor. 
 When I read this part to him and asked him how any 
 friend of North Dakota could find fault with my logic, he 
 replied: "Oh! easy enough. There are only a few men — 
 like you and I — that care a button about these things. 
 
 They have no state pride — care nothing for our live stock 
 or for my hunting business. Why, sir, some of these blasted 
 fools would rather see all the stock and half the children 
 eaten up by the wolves than to see me make $5 — yes, or 
 even $3 — by my business. Jealousy is a mean thing. So 
 is envy. But if men, even in our legislature and in our 
 county commissioners offices, can keep me from making 
 a dollar and at the same time gratify this mean envy and 
 palm off on the people for retrenchment, pretending that 
 they take the bounty off for economy's sake — why, confound 
 them, they chuckle and laugh at you and me for fools. 
 I would about as soon let the wolves decide it as some men 
 we send to the legislature, for you know the good book 
 tells us about 'wolves in sheep's clothing." " 
 
 I was led into these reflections by a long talk I recently 
 had with Mr. Corbin on the subject. Being an expert in 
 this line, a friend of the flocks and an enemy of whatever 
 Injures them, be it man or beast, his conversation upon this 
 subject interested me so deeply that I determined to make 
 his views public through the columns of the Record, and at 
 the same time incorporate with such views a somewhat 
 imperfect sketch of his life. I wish that an abler pen than 
 mine might do the old hero justice, but limited space here 
 forbids. 
 
 An honest, modest gentleman of the old school; wise in 
 Lincoln's sense of the word "wisdom;" a disciple of 
 nature, loving it in all its forms and studious of it in all 
 its moods; long a companion of its solitude in mountain, 
 plain and prairie, in the woods and along the streams; that 
 plain, practical common sense which comes from such 
 communion with nature lends a charm to all he has to say, 
 and the sketch here given does but scant justice to the 
 grand old hero. — Cor. Emmons County Record. 
 
i§ Corbin''s Advice; Or, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WOLF KILLING A SCIENCE AND WOLFOLOGY IS 
 TAUGHT ONLY BY THE WRITER HIMSELF. 
 LEAVING THE DEN FOR THE NEXT YEAR S CROP. 
 TEMPTING THE WOLF IN RANGE OF THE HUN- 
 TER'S GUN BY TRAILING THE DOG CLOSE BE- 
 HIND THE BUGGY. 
 
 Starting on one of my expeditions in May or June, I 
 ride in a buggy, with the Winchester and dog. That dog 
 wont pass any fresh sign without, a growl or bark to let 
 me know. I hunt against the wind, and let the dog go as 
 he will, and I watch him. We understand each other, and 
 Mr. Wolf knows us both. If the sign is a calf's leg, or 
 duck, or fresh egg shells, I know the wolf is not a mile off 
 and so does Shep, my dog. If you see the old wolves 
 sitting on high ground and looking, after April 2."3th, be 
 sure the den is not a mile off every time. The time to 
 kill the old wolf is when you locate the den sure, for they 
 will come closer to you now then ever again. There are 
 several ways to get and shoot the old ones. One or both 
 of them. 
 
 Tie a small dog close to the den, and then hide. About 
 sunset the wolf will attack the dog — then shoot quick. An- 
 other way is, tie a cub close to the den and let the old 
 wolf see it. Then tie your dog close by, and conceal your- 
 self—not long — ^soon the dog will begin to howl and the old 
 wolf will go for him in defense of the cub — then shoot. 
 
 Never kill the young one till you play this game to a 
 finish. You may carry the young ones five miles at night,, 
 and the old ones will be with you next morning — such is 
 their affection for their young. The old ones will outwit, 
 you unless you consult me first by letter of otherwise. I 
 could catch more old ones, but I wont as long as the bounty 
 is so slow. I can make more catching cubs. 
 
 It is no fun. I have no salary like officers who get a big 
 salary and mileage. Remember I board myself and two 
 teams and a hired man, and sleep in the open air. It so 
 happens that I catch hundreds of young wolves where I 
 never see hide or hair of the old ones, who are off looking 
 for their grub, steak among your cattle, sheep and poultry, 
 smiling at your pitiful $2 bounty. 
 
 In warm or soft weather I trap them this way. I take- 
 
The WolfHimter's Guide . 19 
 
 some old horse or cow with the big jaw or some disease 
 that renders them worthless and plant it in a shallow pond 
 or lake, and kill it, and cut it open, set my trap, and there 
 you are, Mr. Wolf, early next morning. I catch scores that 
 way. 
 
 It works like a charm — I have caught ten wolves in one 
 night this way with as many traps — ^but everything depends 
 on caution and sense in setting traps. I will not go into 
 further details for that would be endless. I have a hun- 
 dred tricks I would tell you about trapping if I had the 
 space, but I am not writing a big book, and can only give 
 you a hint and pass on. 
 
 One of my best tricks is to locate the den at breeding 
 time and pull the cubs out with my peculiar hooks and long 
 ash or fishpole — I haul them all out — sometimes get ten and 
 leave the den for the next year's crop O. K. I have wire 
 and hooks for the purpose, and have applied for a patent. 
 
 Sometimes I go to the path the wolves travel and set my 
 traps there. In the thickest brush, I cut off the saplings 
 close to the ground about eight inches wide, for about ten 
 feet from the path, and remove the brush carefully to a dis- 
 tance. I then cut off anotner bush about four feet high, 
 at the erjd of the ten feet and slip the trap ring over the 
 bush. Now I take the best bait I have — a deer's or a pig's 
 head — and slip it over the bush. Fresh meat is best. I 
 chop a hole in the ground about twelve inches from bait, 
 and carry the dirt away, and put in the trap and cover it 
 up with gunny sack or calico, and cover ic over with the 
 line dirt and leaves, and then go off and wait. 
 
 In my lecture on Wolfology which I am delivering all 
 over the west, you will hear me tell the whole story how 
 I trap, shoot and hook wolves to your heart's content, for 
 I cannot particularize here. Always have a gentle team 
 that will stand fire, or you will get left and have to walk 
 home and carry your pets too. 
 
 I always darken the den — always bait the fish hook on 
 the end of my pole with fresh meat, and wait till morning 
 with best results. Another plan I have is to tie my dog to 
 a ten foot pole behind the buggy and drive by the den. The 
 old wolves think, of course, the dog is after their young, 
 and they rush at the dog, then I shoot. 
 
 I carry chains and collars for the purpose, and often 
 picket out the cubs and let the old one comes to them, 
 where I can get a shot. This works like a charm. I 
 often get both old ones. If I can draw the old ones to 
 follow my dog tied to a ten foot pole behind my buggy — I 
 shoot. If I can attract them to the dog and kid tied lo a 
 stake — I shoot. I get the old ones so. If I fail I reach 
 into the den and grapple the cubs out with hooks made on 
 purpose, so by hook or crook I manage to get them, old 
 or young, all one to me, for it is the bounty I am after all 
 the time. 
 
20 Corbiri's Advice ; Or, 
 
 My wolf code of honor bars poison. It is unsafe, unfair, 
 uncivilized. I draw the line at honest fresh bait, fish pole 
 and hooks for the purpose, and my trusty dog and gun, and 
 I put up my hunter wisdom, experience and cunning 
 against that of the wolf, and I find him sometimes more 
 than a m^atch at my best, for a fact, for anyone who takes 
 the wolf for a fool gets left every time. 
 
 The howl of the wolf causes his capture, for it locates 
 his den. •■ , 
 
 WOLF HUNTING A SCIENCE. 
 
 Wolf-killing is a science, and only educated men — edu- 
 cated, I mean, in Wolfology — can successfully combat and 
 destroy these varmints. This science is not taught in any 
 of the schools of the state, but it is a science nevertheless. 
 A man would not pretend to practice medicine, or preach, 
 or practice law without an education especially for his line 
 of work; the same is true of wolf killing. Sports will 
 have a good time for a day and kill a wolf, or possibly two 
 wolves, and will be satisfied, but the professional wolf- 
 killer studies his subject until he understands the nature 
 of the animal he is after so thoroughly that he can locate 
 him and destroy more in one week than all the sports in 
 the county, and those who kill accidentally, will destroy in 
 a year. This being true and the fact that the western 
 part of the state is over-run with wolves that do thousands 
 of dollars worth of damage every year, it behooves the 
 stockmen of North Dakota to make it an object for those 
 who can slay wolves to devote their time to this important 
 industry. 
 
 The damage they do is trifling to any one flock or herd 
 perhaps, but in the aggregate they do many thousand dol- 
 lars worth of damage every year. Wolves increase -vith. 
 wonderful rapidity and are so cunning that it is practically 
 impossible to poison them. Only experts can make any 
 headway toward the destruction of these pests. Unless 
 the different counties and the state offer a premium of 
 sufficient importance to make it an object to diminish the 
 number of wolves, they will increase until the damage done 
 will be many hundred times greater than the amount neces- 
 sary to keep the numbers down or exterminate. 
 
 SAFETY IN SHEEP. 
 
 The farmer finds the sheep industry his safest invest- 
 ment. When all other farm products fail to yield their 
 average revenues he seeks solace in the fact that in all 
 emergencies the flock can be depended upon. The farmer 
 never fails to shear his sheep, and his bank account, as a 
 result, shows a comfortable balance in his favor. 
 
The Wolf mmter's Guide. 
 
 21 
 
 The farmer looks to his sheep to pay off mortgages. 
 
 When his crops fail, he feels sure that his clip will rind 
 a ready cash market. 
 
 He rests assured that wool will not deteriorate l)y stor- 
 age, should he desire to hold it for better prices. 
 
 He has nothing to fear, everything to gain, and nothing 
 to lose. 
 
 He feels confident that a decline in the sheep ijidiistjy is 
 almost impossible. 
 
 He does not worry about finding a ready market for bis 
 mutton. 
 
 Sheep while yielding a comfortable income, improve the 
 soil. 
 
 As a general rule farmers who stock their farms with 
 sheep find after a brief experience that their money couid 
 not have been more safely invested had they placed it in 
 the strong vaults of a bank. 
 
 
 4^ f 
 
 L*i*i«^^ 
 
 
 CUES CAUGHT WHEN ABOUT TWO MONTHS OLD 
 
^2 Corbiri'S Advice ; Or, 
 
 CHAPTER V, 
 
 A SERMON ON WOLVES, AND DESCRIPTION OF MY 
 WOLF FARM AND NUMBER OF WOLVES CAUGHT. 
 
 You will find my text in the one-eyed chapter of the iw."'- 
 €yed John, which reads as follows: "Let no man escape, 
 and to give every man his poison in due season." This text 
 is far reachirig and will take in both the four and two- 
 legged. Cut this out and paste in your scrap baok and 
 you will know how to vote this fall. No man can be suc- 
 cessful who neglects his business. 
 
 NUMBER OF CATTLE, SHEEP AND WOLVES IN 
 EIGHT STATES OF THE UNION. 
 
 Cows Other Cattle Sheep Wolves 
 
 Nebraska 628,750 1,395,825 296,779 275,000 
 
 South Dakota 372,321 449,362 363,697 275,000 
 
 North Dakota 175,073 252,640 359,721 343,000 
 
 Montana 43,994 952,598 3,.377,547 300,000 
 
 Wyoming 18,140 694,973 2.328,025 340,000 
 
 Colorado 91,666 973,259 1,655,557 200,000 
 
 New Mexico 19,317 701,967 3,128,692 350,000 
 
 Arizona 18,404 381,812 1,014,287 175,000 
 
 Figure this * * * 2,140,000 
 
 LIST OF WOLVES AND INCREASE. 
 
 Now, here is a list of five wolves and the .imount of 
 bounty that has been paid for their increase in nine years: 
 Wolf No. 1 has five pups a year for nine years, 
 
 45 at $3 S 135,00 
 
 Wolf No. 2 has six pups a year for nine years, 
 
 54 at ^3 1G2.00 
 
 Wolf No, 3 has seven pups a year for nine years, 
 
 03 at $3 189 .00 
 
 Wolf No. 4 has eight pups a year for nine years, 
 
 72 at $3 210 .00 
 
 Wolf No. 5 has nine pups a year for nine years, 
 
 81 at $3 243. 'jO 
 
 Total $ 945.00 
 
 This is the amount the county and state has paid for the 
 increase of those five wolves in the last nine years. Does 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 2$ 
 
 not this show that it would pay the county to put a higher 
 bounty on the old wolves? Those same five wolves will 
 present their check in the shape of young wolves for about 
 $40 . 00 by the 10th of May. Which is the worst, free trade 
 or free wolves? Both are bad. The place to catch the 
 two-legged wolves is at the ballot box this fall. 
 
 Wolves out here? Well I should smile! North Dakota 
 has 340,000 today, ravaging the flocks and herds, and annu- 
 ally destroying more stock than I dare publish in dollars, 
 and yet they offer me a miserable $1 and $2 a head for ex- 
 terminating them, and saving the cattle and sheep. 
 
 Minnesota pays $5 to $15, so does Wyoming substantially,, 
 while Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, Colorado and 
 Washington pay $3 state bounty to say nothing of the 
 county and other special bounties. In these eight states 
 are nearly three million wolves, and say, $1,300,000 of these 
 females eacn annually multiplying the stock of wolves by 
 five, and if yoa will figure for yourself you will see the total 
 for the eight states may run to nearly 10,000,000 in one 
 year to come. 
 
 In many sections the little children dare not go to school 
 because of these prowling and ferocious beasts. I should 
 think it a very poor child not worth $3 to $5 a head. 
 
 Our lawgivers seem to think otherwise. If there are mil- 
 lions of wolves out west and no one disputes it, at the 
 present rate of increase and destruction, the millenium will 
 be here long before the total is reduced a single wolf. The 
 problem is too easy and I drop it right here. 
 
 I have caught over 1,100 wolves the last nine years, on 
 what I call my wolf farm, in the north half of Emmons 
 county, N. D., the garden spot of the west. I know every 
 inch of this beautiful and fertile region, and notnmg pleases 
 me more than to take a stranger in my buggy and (\Yiv& 
 him over my farm and point out a nice home for him. 
 
 I live on my own land near Glencoe, N. D., and my 
 latchstring is always out for any decent man who is hunt- 
 ing for a home. I am a republican, a member of the 
 church, a temperance man, and believe in all things that 
 are good, and no joy comes to me like that of extending a 
 rough but friendly hand to any fellow man who comes to 
 my door, or writes to me for information. My wife is 
 still with me to cheer my old age, my five children grown 
 and settled close tO' me, industrious and decent, and what 
 more does any man desire in this world — except a pension, 
 and I have that too. 
 
 I helped to put McKinley in but not to cut and slash pen- 
 sions, and if he don't oust that man Evans and redeem his 
 promises of four years ago, he will lose three-fourths of the 
 soldier vote. 
 
 I took a long-handled shovel when I moved here, and 
 dug out forty-two wolf dens, put the dirt at a distance so 
 the wolves would suspect nothing, and these dens have 
 
24 
 
 Corbin's Advice : Or 
 
 been little gold mines to me — for the wolves went there and 
 I too, in due time when the pups began to bark, as you will 
 see further along in my book. 
 
 I know where to find them and hook the cubs out in the 
 breeding season you see. I catch them witn pole and hook 
 and do not disturb the den, but leave it for the next year's 
 crop. I know every sign and track of the wolf, his habits, 
 his modes of thought and his cunning to a finish, and 
 waste no time scouring tlie country over, for in that way 
 he knows more than I do how to keep out of my way. 
 
 In certain cases I get a nice fee for killing some special 
 pair of wolves that have committed depredations on some 
 rich man's poultry, sheep or cattle. I knew one pair to 
 kill fifteen head of sheep, and the owner offered me $10 to 
 kill them. 
 
 With sheep at $3 to $5 and wool at 20 cents, how long 
 does it take a wolf to destroy more than the pitiful $1 or 
 ^2 I get for killing him? This is the practical question 
 
 UNCLE ben's home AT GLENCOE 
 
 addressed to our legislature, our county commissioners and 
 the farmers of North Dakota, most of all. If this stingy 
 policy does not change, it will not be long until the wolves 
 will take the Red River Valley, and make it a howling 
 desert again; for deprive the farmer and stockmen of their 
 profits in stock, they must resort to raising and selling 
 grain, and shipping it east at the ruinous rates charged by 
 the railroads, and at that business they cannot live, and 
 will soon return east, and let tue wolves have North Da- 
 l^ota. 
 
The Wolf Huntet 's Ginde. 25 
 
 WOLVES DECIDEDLY BOLD. 
 
 Wolves are reported bolder in the northern part of the 
 state than ever before. Joseph Augur of Bathgate, while 
 driving with a team Avas chased by a band of seven, 
 and it was only with the utmost exertions of his team that 
 he managed to make his escape. It is seldom that wolves 
 will attack individuals, particularly the kind that infest 
 the prairies and woods of this state. 
 
 PRIVATE DALZELL'S BUREAU OF ORATORY, 2311 PA. 
 AVE., WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Writes speeches, books, pamphlets, etc., for any purpose 
 mentioned, confldentally to order, cash in advance. For 
 particulars enclose stamp and address as above. References 
 furnished to yoti before sending your money, and satisfac- 
 tion guaranteed. 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 NUMBER OF WOLVES KILLED IN EACH COUNTY ANjl> 
 RATE OF INCREASE. ONE ACRE OF HENS EQUAL 
 TO 200 ACRES OF WHEAT. WHY WE ARE SHORT 
 OF CATTLE. 
 
 Where's the use of me and the president trying to protect 
 wool and sheep with the democrats and wolves in cahoot 
 against both? If the legislattire can fix the annual in- 
 crease of wolves at 5, instead of 7 as nature and I fix it, 
 why can't they require the cows to have two calves and so 
 keep the ntiiaber of live stock even with the number of 
 wolves, for as it is there are about as many of one as of 
 the other — a, wolf at every stable door, and sheep-fold? The 
 wolves must be fed, and yoti must raise the cattle, colts, 
 sheep poultry and eggs to feed them or pay me and other 
 hunters to kill the wolves. Choose ye which. 
 
 I have done more to protect wool than all the wind jam- 
 mers in congress. 
 
 I append a table here giving the ntimber of wolves in 
 
26 Corhin's Advice; Or, 
 
 each county and the rate of increase for the information 
 
 x>f the legislature, county commissioners and stockmen: 
 
 Barnes 1,130 
 
 Benson 1,156 
 
 Billings 12,848 
 
 Bottineau 904 
 
 Burleigh 2,704 
 
 Cass 82 
 
 Cavalier 1,480 
 
 Dickey 1,788 
 
 Eddy 484 
 
 Emmons 2,208 
 
 Foster 320 
 
 Grand Forks 292 
 
 Griggs 480 
 
 Kidder 804 
 
 LaMoure 968 
 
 Logan 424 
 
 McHenry 2,144 
 
 Mcintosh 588 
 
 McLean 8i58 
 
 Mercer 1,380 
 
 Morton 4,040 
 
 Nelson 824 
 
 Oliver 232 
 
 Pembina 2,020 
 
 Pierce 428 
 
 Ramsey 544 
 
 Ransom 540 
 
 Richland 440 
 
 Rolette 484 
 
 Sargent 900 
 
 Stark 6,000 
 
 Steele : 212 
 
 Stutsman 2,148 
 
 Towner 124 
 
 Traill 8 
 
 Walsh 164 
 
 Ward 2,800 
 
 Wells 2,084 
 
 Williams 4,044 
 
 Total wolves in North Dakota. . . 60,000 
 
 The above figures is for 1899; for 1900 there is 345,000, 
 females 172,500; total 1,207,500; increase, 862,500. One 
 of the proudest days of my life was when I was invited 
 to speak before our state legislature on behalf of the wolf 
 industry. If I had had $100,000 to pay for the vote for the 
 senate, they could not have shown me more respect, because 
 I suppose it was the first time they had ever heard an 
 honest man there. 
 
The Wolf Hxmter^s Guide. 
 
 Again when lately I drove with my hunting outfit through 
 the city of Esimarck, and showed the staring denizens of 
 that metropolis the fruits of my industry, I received such 
 marked attention as a politician with a bag of gold in one 
 hand and the constitution in the other might have been 
 proud of. 
 
 I count a poor day if I don't average four to seven. Last 
 year I was on the road with my horse, buggy, dog and gun 
 twenty-three days, killed eighty-five wolves; in 1898, 104 
 in twenty-eight days, and in 1897, 148 in thirty-five days, 
 during my hunting season, which is May and June. I used 
 to hunt them with steel traps, but that is too slow, for this 
 cunning animal is very wary of a trap. And as for hunting 
 with gun alone, that is still slower, for it is almost im- 
 possible to get a shot at a wolf the first time, and if you 
 shoot one^ you are done then for sure. 
 
 A gray wolf here means a timoer wolf, and twice as 
 large as a prairie wolf or cayote. The cayote or prairie 
 wolf is the one that does the devilment, catching calves, 
 sheep and all kinds of poultry, while the timber wolves or 
 long gray wolves kill horses, colts, 2-year-old steers. There 
 are few of them east of the Missouri river, except in some 
 of the northwestern counties of North Dakota. The stock- 
 men there offer as high as .$5 a head for every wolf killed 
 around their ranches. The wolf opens his eyes in nine 
 days, but it has taken our people nine years to get their 
 eyes open to this matter. The worst wolves I ever met 
 yet are the two legged wolves in sheep's clothing. 
 
 .Our legislature cut the bounty on old wolves from $3 
 down to $2, and on kids $1, requiring the hunter to skin 
 and bring in the skm and skull, and in case of a female, the 
 whole carcass. It is pleasant company in my buggy in 
 May and June, and if I could only have the commissioners 
 and legislature in witn me a couple of hours they would 
 dispense with these useless and oppressive requirements 
 and ask me to bring in the scaip and ears only to get my 
 bounty. Our county commissioners should go with me on 
 my excursions and see a calf leg here, a sheep's leg there, 
 wings of ducks, turkeys or chickens, etc., lying around at 
 the mouth of every den. 
 
 They often forget that the poultry and eggs of North 
 Dakota are worth as much as any other crop, even wheat 
 itself, and should take some measures to protect it and not 
 waste all their sympathy on the Cubans and Philippines. 
 Charity begins at home, here in North Dakota. 
 
 If they would protect not only the game but domestic 
 fowl, why not charge a license of $5 or $10 for hunting. 
 Hundreds who never fired a gun would take out hunter's 
 license to protect their poultry, etc., and the sums thus 
 gathered could be applied to the bounty at large, and raise 
 it to an amount that would pay us old hunters to extermi- 
 nate these pests. 
 
28 Cor bin'' s Advice ; Or, 
 
 Our legislature passed a law to make five a liter but the 
 wolf gives no heed to it, and persists in multiplying the 
 stock of wolves by seven. Pour hundred wolves in one of 
 my adjoining counties, (county of Burleigh) were females 
 and last year increased the crop to 3,000, i. e., 800 old ones, 
 and 2,800 cubs, while the total number killed was only 150, 
 and this year is a fair sample of how the work goes on all 
 over the state. I could multiply examples but this is 
 enough to set stockmen and farmers thinking until they 
 begin to know that the only way to exterminate or even 
 diminish this growing army of wolves is to offer a decent 
 bounty. 
 
 One thing is sure, the people pay the tax any way, if not 
 to me, then to the wolves, the only difference being that I 
 ask money but Mr. Wolf asks fresh mutton and beef, eggs, 
 chickens and ducks for his pay. 
 
 It must be paid one way or the other, only I ask not one 
 tenth of what Mr. Wolf demands, and he don't need any 
 law of the legislature nor neea he fetch in both ears and 
 skull and carcass to get his pay. 
 
 Statisticians are figuring on why we are short 2,000,000 
 cattle. Why, the wolves got the calves. North Dakota 
 with 345,000 wolves, of which 172,500 are females, produc- 
 ing seven more annually, increasing the wolf population 
 to 1, 212,000 by 1900 will soon settle all these problems for 
 the farmers and stockmen oi this state. Why they 
 haven't sense enough to know which end of the wolf the 
 tail is on, or would they compel me to bring in the whole 
 skin, and skull with both ears and tail on, and then fetch 
 two respectable taxpayers to vouch for me that I killed 
 the wolf in their county? By and by I expect them to 
 demand the affidavits of a couple of old grey wolves them- 
 selves, or some other equally folish impossibility. Some- 
 times I fear there is a lobby of wolves in our legislature 
 with wool on — over their eyes sure. If they had to have 
 this loud smelling carcass around as I have for ten days 
 to get it to the county seat for my bounty, they would 
 smell something about as bad as their den does when it 
 is selling a seat in the senate. 
 
 I watch my own place so well that within five years 
 past I have caught 400 wolves within seven miles of my 
 house. They shant take my stock, no sir, if the court 
 knows herself, and she thinks she do. 
 
 In my buggy with my faithful shephard dog beside me, 
 my gun in hand, and a gay cayote in a box uhder my seat, 
 I drive out with a horse as steady as a clock whO' never 
 minds the cock of a gun, and if I come home again you will 
 see and smell something that will do your soul good, and 
 that bad as it smells means fewer wolves but more live 
 stock for North Dakota. 
 
 No man can be successful who neglects his business, 
 therefore I must raise the wolf bounty to $5 and $10, $5 
 for sheep and $20 for calves. 
 
The Wolf Hunter^s Guide. 
 
 29 
 
 SHE PRODUCES OVER $500,000,000 EVERY YEAR— ONE 
 ACRE OP HENS EQUALS 200 ACRES OF WHEAT. 
 The latest government statistics prove that the poultry 
 and eggs of the country are worth more every year than 
 the combined value of corn, oats and hay. The egg pro- 
 duct alone is worth three hundred million dollars per year. 
 At the same time the American people have to import mil- 
 lionp of dozens of eggs yearly to supply the demand. There 
 is always a large profit in the poultry business and you 
 should give it thoughtful consideration. 
 
 ONE ACRE OP POULTRY CLEARS $1,000. 
 A flock of thirteen hens will thrive in a yard twenty feet 
 wide by fifty feet deep. In this way 500 hens can be suc- 
 cessfully managed on one acre of ground. According to 
 the management they will pay from $1 to $2 clear profit 
 for each hen per year. This will give $500 'to $1,000 clear 
 profit from one acre of hens. 
 
 ONE ACRE OP WHEAT CLEARS $5.00. 
 The farmer who makes a clear profit of $5 per acre from 
 wheat is extremely successful, as most of farmers do not 
 make that. But allowing a profit of $5 per acre for wheat, 
 you will find one acre of hens to give as much profit as 
 200 acres of wheat. This is equally true of corn, with 
 slight variations. 
 
 THE PRIDE OF THE BARNYARD 
 
 Note — We are indebted for this fine picture of a pair of 
 Rose Combed White Leghorns to Mr. Peter P. Pormoe of 
 Bismarck, who raises this breed and the Silver Laced Wy- 
 andottes. 
 
30 • Corhiii's Advice ; Or, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE GREAT SHEEP AND CATTLE RANGES OF THE 
 WEST. SOMETHING ABOUT THE CHEAP LANDS 
 FOR WHICH I AM AGENT. 
 
 The great sheep ranges and cattle ranches of the mighty- 
 west have no enemy so dangerous and costly as the wolf. 
 He is to the flocks and herds what the Indian once was to 
 the lonely scattered settlers, and that brute instinct, cun- 
 ning intelligence or whatever it may be is of a very high 
 order, much more cunning and wise than man's wisdom 
 in many respects. If it requires years in college to learn 
 something of the human mind, it requires even longer and 
 closer study in the college of the parirle and mountain to 
 learn the ways of the wolf, the most cunning animal, except 
 the fox, and his equal altogether. A tenderfoot might hunt 
 wolves till the cows come home, and never catch one, and 
 go back east feeling mighty lucky if they did not catch, 
 him. The busy farmer and stockman have no time or 
 patience to hunt wolves. That is a business of itself, and 
 requires half a life time to acquire it. 
 
 I have devoted my life to it, have studied it, practiced it, 
 till I have it down fine^ and believe I should be paid for 
 telling others what it took me so long to learn. That is 
 one of the objects of this book. The doctor charges you 
 for his presciptions, and the lawyer for advice, and the 
 clergyman for counsel, even if you are nO' better off when 
 they are done — you pay all the same. And so if I, an old 
 hunter, known through the entire west as the Boss Wolf 
 Killer, teach you something of my craft, you will not com- 
 plain ii I ask you to shell out! That is plain talk with the 
 bark on, and I mean every word, for I assure you I don't 
 print the book for fun, nor for my health, for I am as merry 
 as a lark and have health out here to burn. 
 
 I wish I could get a lot of you pale faced eastern boys 
 out here on these plains and prairies and mountains. I'd 
 put roses in your cheeks and money in your pockets, with- 
 out the aid of any doctor but good old Mother Nature, with 
 her sweet breath and glorious exercise. Throw physic to 
 the dogs and come here, and let your life have a chance to 
 develop and throw off disease — and laziness. 
 
 Here in the west it is root hog or die, and you must work 
 or starve, and once I showed you one of these free lovely 
 homesteads over which I have hunted for years, you will 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide 31 
 
 pitch your tent to stay, and bless the day you first met 
 plain, bluff old Ben Corbin. Send me a letter and I will 
 tell you all you wish to know. 
 
 FREE HOMES IN NORTH DAKOTA. 
 
 GOVERNMENT LAND FREE— There are 20,385,293 acres 
 of unoccupied government land in North Dakota open for 
 entry, free under the homestead laws. Of these 11,960,433 
 acres are unsurveyed, and 9,424,860 unsurveyed, according 
 to the government land commissioner's report August 1, 
 1897. 
 
 RAILROAD LANDS— The Northern Pacific Railway 
 Company has 6,700,000 acres of desirable grazing and agri- 
 cultural lands in North Dakota for sale at prices ranging 
 from $1.00 to $5.00 per acre, and on five and ten years' 
 time at 6 per cent, if desired. 
 
 A WORD TO SETTLERS— Remember that North Dakota 
 has one great and paramount advantage, viz: That it con- 
 tains immense areas of easily tilled soil ready for the plow. 
 No clearing of trees or removing of stumps is necessary. 
 The land lies open in broad fertile expanses awaiting culti- 
 vation. Crops can be raised as soon as the first sod is 
 turned. The settler can^ the first year, raise potatoes, 
 oats, wheat, corn and vegetables enough for his own home 
 consumption. 
 
 DON'T WAIT — Now is the time to buy a good home in 
 the west, as good western lands will never be as cheap 
 again as they are now. Homeseekers will not find our 
 country as settlers did fifty years' ago. They won't have 
 to travel for months in covered wagons to find a house. 
 They will have the best of railroad facilities to carry them 
 right through the finest farming country in the United 
 States. 
 
 CORBIN'S HOTEL is delightfully situated on the banks 
 of the Missouri River near Glencoe, Emmons county, N. D., 
 and is twenty miles south of Bismarck. Headquarters for 
 sportsmen and v/olf hunters. Catfish, taken fresh from 
 the historic Missouri River served every day; 
 
 RENTERS, LOOK INTO OUR WESTERN LANDS.— The 
 amount of rent you pay to eastern landlords would buy 
 you a home within the limits of our land. Don't remain 
 in an old settled country, where you are always paying 
 rent, frequently for exhausted lands, and scarcely make a 
 living. Come west where your time and labor will pay 
 for a farm. We should not spend our time and money to 
 show you homes if we did not know we have what you 
 want. We can raise the very best of wheat, corn, oats, 
 hay, potatoes and produce of all kinds on these lands. 
 Our lands are situated in the healthiest portion of the 
 United States. I have lived in Emmons county for fifteen 
 years. Remember if you get a claim with hay and water 
 on it, you then have the world by the tail; and you can 
 then get the rest without trouble. I can settle ten families 
 
32 Co)'bin''s Advice ; Or, 
 
 a day from now till next September, on government and 
 railroad lands. For parLiculars address Benj. Cor bin, 
 Glencoe, N. D. 
 
 STATISTICAL MAP. 
 
 H. U. Thomas, commissioner of agriculture and labor, 
 has issued a statistical map of North Dakota from a study 
 of which much valuable information may be obtained. 
 The area of North Dakota is given as 73,312 square miles; 
 population estimated, 300,000; miles of railroads, 2,979; 
 number of post offices, 590; newspapers published, 150; ex- 
 pended for support of public schools, 1898, $1,131,530; num- 
 ber of schools, 2,333; value of school property, $2,132,739; 
 assessed valuation of real and personal property, 1899, 
 $114,334,428; capital invested in banking, $16,599,110. 
 
 Stark county shows up on the map in good snape. The 
 county is credited with having in vacant government lands 
 2,486,800 acres; land under cultivation, 41,765 acres. In 
 1898 there were raised in the county 379,309 bushels of 
 wheat, 2,890 of flax, 53,2()0 of oats, 5,134 of barley, 1,274 of 
 rye, 7,480 of corn, 14,820 of poitatoes. Live stock sold dur- 
 ing 1898 1,111,575. Assessed valuation of real and personal 
 property, 1899, $2,296,838. 
 
 LINCOLN AS A HORSE TRADER. 
 
 The preceding incident leads to another, in which Mr. 
 Lincoln himeslf figures as a horse trader. The scene is a 
 very humerous one, and, as usual in an encounter of wit, 
 Mr. Lincoln came out ahead. He and a certain judge once 
 got to bantering one another about trading horses; and it 
 was agreed that the next morning at 9 o'clock they should 
 make a tiade^ the horses to be unseen up to that hour — 
 and no back out, under a forfeit of $25. At the hour 
 appointed, the judge came up, leading the sorriest-looking 
 specimen of a nag ever seen in those parts. In a few 
 minutes Mr. Lincoln was seen approaching with a wooden 
 saw-horse upon his shoulders. Great were the shouts and 
 the laughter of the crowd; and these increased, when Mr. 
 Lincoln, surveying the judge's animal, set down his saw- 
 horse, and exclaimed: "Weil, Judge, this is the first time 
 I ever got the worst of it in a horse trade!" 
 
 PATENTS APPLIED FOR. 
 
 I have applied for patents on two dinguses that I have 
 invented. One is a double- oack-action wolf exterminator, 
 a description of which I will give at some future time. The 
 other invention is a flubdub for opening the eyes of editors 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 33 
 
 and county officials to the necessity of paying a good 
 bounty and getting the wolves killed off. There will be 
 a machine of extra strength for the county board, whose 
 eyes are now closed tighter than ever. 
 
 The Corbin house is now open for stoppers. Terms $1 
 per day. 
 
 Stop at the Corbin Hotel and hear the catfisn ring the 
 dinner bill. No whisky, no beer. When I want anything 
 fresh I kill a deer. 
 
 No blind pig to squeal in the night and wake you up in 
 a terrible fright. 
 
 The farmer who neglects sheep stands in his own light. 
 They are so peaceable and we^l-disposed, and so easy to 
 keep that the money they make is only a secondary matter. 
 Wool and mutton are always in demand, and never yet has 
 the price been too low to leave a profit, although a good 
 many sheep breeders got scared and sold their flocks a few 
 years ago, thinking that unprofitable prices were coming. 
 Sheep are better than mining stock to the farmer with a 
 weedy farm, and to the good farmer they are as good as 
 money in the pocket. 
 
 METHOD IN THE SHEEP BUSINESS. 
 
 It is said that representatives of tue American-English, 
 syndicate have been in western North Dakota and Montana 
 aii summer and fall, traveling over the large sheep raising 
 sections, securing options on the best sheep ranches and 
 best watered land for the purpose of consolidating them 
 into one large company. Already options on nearly 500-, 
 000 head of sheep and 500,000 acres of the finest and most 
 fertile sheep raising land in Montana have been obtained. 
 The representatives of the syndicate in Montana are both 
 old, experienced and successful sheep men. The company 
 will be known as the Montana Consolidated Sheep and 
 Land company, with a capital of .$10,0(XJ,000. 
 
 The company will seek to improve the sheep industry 
 of the northwest. Experienced sorters, graders and pack- 
 ers will be in charge at the various shearing plants, so 
 as to have the wool in shape on tae market, commanding 
 ready sales and high prices. Instead of sending sheep to 
 other states to be fattened, the company will get them in 
 proper condition for the market and begin feeding upon 
 alfalfa, which is grown in large quantities upon many of 
 their splendid properties, which is acknowledged to be the 
 finest sheep food grown. Scouring plants, woolen mill, etc., 
 are among the possibilities with the company, and the busi- 
 ness is to be handled in such a way as to attain the best 
 results based upon years of experience of others, as well 
 as those interested in the company. 
 
 k 
 
34 Corbiti's Advice ; Or, 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 NUMBER OF WOLVES IN EACH COUNTY AND 
 AMOUNT OF TAXES PAID. WHAT ONE MILL ON 
 THE DOLLAR WOULD RAISE. NECESSITY OF 
 GREATER LEVY. 
 
 The following are the number of wolves killed in this 
 state, by counties, together with bounty fund taxes from 
 each county here represented, as shown by the "State 
 Bounty Register," from January, 1897, to November 30, 
 
 1898: 
 
 Counties No. Wolves Amount 
 
 Barnes 282 $292.63 
 
 Benson 289 85.50 
 
 Billings 3,212 40.85 
 
 Bottineau 496 59.20 
 
 Burleigh 551 quw qu 
 
 Cass 23 829.55 
 
 Cavalier 370 132.79 
 
 Dickey 447 165.08 
 
 Eddy 1-J 49.18 
 
 Emmons 507 32.64 
 
 Foster 80 76.54 
 
 Grand Forks 73 574. 80 
 
 Griggs 120 100.39 
 
 Kidder 201 42.43 
 
 LaMoure 242 172.25 
 
 Logan 106 29.61 
 
 McHenry 536 17.92 
 
 Mcintosh 147 51.25 
 
 McLean 217 40.77 
 
 Mercer 345 23.38 
 
 Morton 1,010 154.13 
 
 Nelson 206 135.87 
 
 Oliver 58 23.51 
 
 Pembina 255 302.59 
 
 Pierce 107 25.23 
 
 Ramsey 136 125.58 
 
 Ransom 135 133.60 
 
 Richland 121 440.62 
 
The Wolf Hunter^s Guide. 35 
 
 Counties No. Wolves Amount 
 
 Rolette 475 46.26 
 
 Sargent 142 114.71 
 
 Stark 1,500 127.24 
 
 Steele 53 191.24 
 
 Stutsman 537 251 .40 
 
 Towner 31 56.28 
 
 Traill 2 406.66 
 
 Walsh 41 413.30 
 
 Ward 575 96.70 
 
 Wells 546 107.42 
 
 Williams 911 35.89 
 
 Total 15,211 $6,207.31 
 
 Since the above table was obtained written orders for 
 about 1,000 wolf scalps have been received by the state 
 auditor from various counties listed above. 
 
 Now there is another feature of this matter that deserves 
 a little attention and that is the size of the bounty. It is 
 no trick to catch young wolves, for a hunter who has made 
 a life study of the subject as I have done. I have made' 
 it my business since I have been in the country, and I 
 know just how to do it. But neitner is it any trick for a 
 doctor to make a professional call and charge .$2 for it, or 
 for a lawyer to give a bit of advice and charge $10 for 
 five minutes talk. And in a good many cases the doctor's 
 advice does no good and the lawyer's talk only gets you 
 into more trouble. But it is different with the wolf hunter. 
 Every time he catches a wolf he saves you money. He 
 saves you a calf or a sheep, or a turkey or something that. 
 is a direct benefit. He never fails to do you some good. 
 And he does not get paid unless he does catch a wolf. He 
 has to do some good to the stockmen before he gets any 
 money. The doctor and the lawyer have made a study of 
 their business and they get paid for what they know. Why 
 should not the wolf hunter who has made a life study of 
 his business get paid for what he knows and does. He 
 knows how to catch wolves and he goes out and catches 
 them. He is just as important to the stock grower as the 
 doctor or the lawyer or any other man who does nothing 
 and gets a big fee. The ditrerence is that he does a great 
 deal and gets a small fee. He saves thousands of dollars 
 to the stockmen, and gets a small bounty. And yet he is 
 the most important member of tne community, for if he 
 does not do his work, the wolves eat up the cattle and 
 sheep and the stockmen have to go out of business. A 
 small bounty will do no good. An experienced wolf hunter 
 will not go out and work hard for a measly little fee, and 
 then discout his warrants to get money. The small 
 bounty is all right for the young wolves, for an experienced 
 wolf hunter will catch a whole litter of them at once and 
 
36 Carbines Advice ; Or 
 
 make something out of it, but if you want the old wolves 
 killed off, something that takes hard work and does more 
 good than killing off 100 young ones, put a higher bounty 
 on them. Put a bounty of $5 or even $10 on old wolves, 
 and shut off the wolf supply factory. No hunter will work 
 to kill an old wolf for $2 when he can in the same time 
 kill half a dozen young ones and get $1 apiece for them. 
 But if you make it an object for him to kill the old ones, 
 he will clean them out, and then there will be no young 
 ones, at $1 apiece. Handle this question in a business-like 
 fashion. Every stockman in the county is just as much 
 interested in this mater as I am. i make a bare living 
 at the business, and yet I keep the woives cleaned out so 
 that you can make a fortune in the stock business in a few 
 years. It is to get scientific wolf hunters to make a busi- 
 ness of destroying them. It should be the aim of the 
 stockmen to pay enough bounty to make the object of ex- 
 perienced hunters to devote their time to killing off wolves. 
 Other states pay big bounties. In many places the stock- 
 men pay a side bounty for all wolves killed on their range. 
 Nebraska has been trying to get some man who will de- 
 vote his time to this wolf business and clean the wolves 
 out, but they can't get anyone, for the reason that wolf 
 killing is a science and there are only a few of us who 
 know how to kill them. The stockmen of Emmons county 
 have all the benefit of my long experience in killing 
 wolves, the very thing the Nebraska stockmen would like 
 to have, and yet they, or rather some of them, do not 
 want to pay a small amount for my work. In Nebraska 
 the big cattlemen make all the cowboys ride the range to 
 shoot the wolves. I kill off whole families of them before 
 they get big enough to kill off stock. If this is not a good 
 thing for the stockmen here, they do not know what is 
 best for them. 
 
 CIRCULAR ON THE WOLF INDUSTRY. 
 
 Benjamin Corbin, the boss wolf hunter of North Dakota, 
 who has caught more wolves than any other man in the 
 northwest, if not in the United States, says that now is 
 the time his crop is being cultivated. Corbin figures every 
 female wolf as a farmer figures an acre of ground to be 
 sowed for a yield of grain. When the wolf bounty is taken 
 off for a time the female wolves increase in numbers, and 
 that, according to his calculations, gives him so many 
 more acres to count upon. The female wolves produce 
 annually seven young ones. When the bounty is placed 
 on the wolves again, when they become so numerous that 
 they threaten the existence of the stock industry, Corbin 
 locates all these families of young ones and in many cases 
 catches the entire family in one night without putting out 
 an ounce of poison or firing a shot. How he does it is 
 
 .'I 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 37 
 
 secret which it would pay any wolf hunter well to find 
 out, and which may be done if proper arrangements are 
 made with Mr. Corbin, whose address is Glencoe, N. D. 
 Counting every female wolf as an acre of land would be 
 counted by a farmer, seven young ones at $3 bounty each 
 produces a revenue to Mr. Corbin of $21 an acre — a far 
 more profitable business than farming when the bounty is 
 taken off the old wolves through false economy, and the 
 young ones are allowed to grow until they become so 
 numerous that catching them is easy. 
 
 I have hunted wolves in this state for nine years, and 
 have caught and killed more of them than any other man 
 in the northwest. I know all their habits and the amount 
 of damage they do, and I know that if the bounty is taken 
 off them they will over run the state and ruin the stock 
 industry. Every time the bounty .s taken off the wolves 
 increase and when it is placed back on them it takes so 
 much longer to cut the number down to what it was before. 
 
 The best thing for the interests of the state and of the 
 stock raisers, in my opinion, would be to put an increased 
 bounty on the female wolves in the breeding season — say 
 from the first of February to the first of June. That is 
 the time the killing of the females will do the greatest 
 good, for the females have an average of seven pups each, 
 and if the old wolf is killed it prevents the bearing of that 
 additional number of young ones. As soon as these young 
 ones are born they are trapped and killed and $3 each is 
 paid for them in loounty, making a total of $21 in bounty 
 that has to be paid, where it could be avoided by the pay- 
 ment of $10 on the old wolf in the breeding season. 
 
 Out of the breeding season put a bounty ot $5 on the 
 old w.olf. This will be an inducement to kill the old wolves 
 at all times and will result in cutting down the number 
 that are born annually. If the burden is too heavy for the 
 state let the state pay half the bounty and the county pay 
 half, each county to pay the proportion of the bounty for 
 the wolves killed within its borders. 
 
 Put a bounty of $10 on the female wolves in the breeding 
 season and $5 the year round. Let each county pay half 
 the bounty and the state pay the other half. 
 
 o 
 
 THE FAMILY COW. 
 
 She's broad in her hips and long in her rump, 
 A straight and flat back without even a hump. 
 She's wide in her lips and calm in her eyes, 
 She's fine in her shoulders and thin in her thighs, 
 She's sleight in her neck and small in her tail. 
 She's wide in her breast and good at the pail: 
 She's fine in her Done and silky of skin, 
 She's a grazier without and a butcher within. 
 
38 Corhiyi's Advice ; Or, 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LOCATING THE WOLF. DEN. THE BENEFIT OF THE 
 WOLF BOUNTY. A CORRESPONDENT'S DESCRIP- 
 TION OF MY WOLF FARM. 
 
 The wolves howl every evening when they leave the den. 
 They ao the same thing in the morning. That howl is 
 music to my ears, and death to theirs. I go to the ranch- 
 man, and ask, "Have you any wolves here?" Back 
 comes the reply of ignorance "No sir, plenty of cayotes 
 but no wolves." A cayote is a wolf, and I now know what 
 next to ask. "How often do you see them?" "Every 
 morning and evening." "Do they do any damage?" "O 
 yes, they caught three turkeys here — one on her nest al- 
 most ready to hatch — they suck eggs, and they even caught 
 the old rooster and four hens, just over there west of the 
 hill." 
 
 I am almos-t sure, now I will ask a question or two more, 
 and clinch it like a Philadelphia lawyer. "Where do you 
 first hear them in the morning?" "Over there," pointing 
 with the finger. "Where is the roughest, rockiest, hilly 
 ground?" It is pointed out to me. This information 
 which seems so simple to you gives me all the clue I need, 
 so off I go. Why, I know the den is not half a mile off, and 
 just at what point of the compass. I drive right there as 
 straight as a bee files to its hive, with my dog tied to the 
 end of my ten-foot pole. The wolves come out to look at 
 the dog, and if they follow me, I locate the den at once. 
 of meat, and the plant is then left over nighi. 
 
 I take a shot the first chance and get one or both of the 
 wolves. If, however, the wolves are shy and keep at a dis- 
 tace, I wait for night, and set my dog after the old ones, 
 and then drive past the den. This will fetch the old one 
 to the den, if the cubs are too young to come out, otherwise 
 she will stay away. The surest time to shoot the old ones 
 and hook or spear the young ones in the den is when they 
 are too small to leave the den. I have referred to this 
 elsewhere and need not repeat. I fool away no time on 
 the old ones however, for I get .$1 for each cub, and only 
 $2 for the adults, and so I take the old ones if I can 
 easily, otherwise I gather in the cubs and pass on. 
 
 Out of 1,500 wolves I have killed the past nine years, 
 not more than sixty-one were grown up. 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 39 
 
 I have twenty old females on my farm of twenty-five 
 miles square that have cost the people from $150 to $200 
 each in the last nine years, when they could have got rid 
 of the whole twenty for $100 or even less money, by offer- 
 ing an inducement for their capture. In 1807, I caught 
 twenty-one litters of wolves, averaging seven to the litter. 
 I kill about one old wolf for every twenty young ones. I 
 spot the same old pair every year, get the increase and let 
 the old ones go free. I particularize five old wolves whose 
 offspring I have caught every year. These five wolves 
 have cost on bounty $945 and are still alive and well. 
 
 Don't this demonstrate that it would be economy to pay 
 a bounty of $10? You must kill more than 1,000 a day to 
 exterminate the 343,000 in North Dakota within one year, 
 as it is done now the wolves are on the increase in a ratio 
 that must startle any thinking man concerned in the 
 honorable business of raising wool, mutton, beef, poultry, 
 butter and eggs for the market, for the wolves get the 
 most of it now. It costs you half a million dollars a year 
 to starve out the poor hunter with niggardly bounty, and 
 hamper and feed the wolves with the finest and best of 
 your flocks and herds. 
 
 Any one interested can easily prepare himself for the 
 business of wolf hunting for $25 under my personal in- 
 struction in a thousand matters I can put in no books, and 
 that no book can teach. A ride with Uncle Ben, a few 
 weeks at my fireside will cost you nothing, and before you 
 leave my college you will drop me a $25 and get your 
 diploma as W. H. L. L., which means doctor of wolf hun- 
 ters. No other college can confer the degree — no other uni- 
 versity than my open prairies, grand woods, and crystal 
 streams, where the air is pure, the sunlight clear, and 
 nature's open book before us teaches all you need to know 
 for wolf hunters. 
 
 ' BENEFITS OF THE WOLF BOUNTY. 
 
 The wolf bounty question is a serious one for the stock- 
 men of the western part of this state. It is serious be- 
 cause wolves increase rapidly, and if they are not kept 
 thinned out by experienced wolf hunters, the time will 
 have to come when the stockmen will be forced to leave 
 the business or conduct it at a loss. At present the free 
 range and free grass afford the stockmen the greatest 
 natural opportunities in the world. The wolf is their 
 principal enemy, and it would seem to be the part of wis- 
 dom for them to kill the enemy or make it an object for 
 other men to do so. 
 
 Wolves increase much faster than people suppose who 
 do not know the animals. They multiply at the rate of 
 600 to 800 per cent a year. An old she wolf in one year 
 will bear half a dozen or more young ones, and in another 
 
40 Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 
 
 year every one of these will be large enougJi to do as much 
 damage as the old one. If these young wolves are trapped 
 or shot, and put out of the way, the stockmen are safe, 
 except from the old one. But if they are allowed to run 
 at large — if no bounty is paid and they are not killed — in 
 a year or two they will be breeding and raising young 
 and the first thing you know the prairie is overrun with 
 wolves and the stockmen and farmers find their calves 
 dead on the range, and their profits eaten up by the pests. 
 
 Just to show how wolves multiply, I will state that in 
 the past nine years I have caught 300 pups from five old 
 wolves. Suppose those pups had not been caught — sup- 
 pose there had been no bounty and they had been allowed 
 to grow unmolested. Half of them would have been 
 females and at the rate of increase there would have been 
 thousands of wolves from the five old ones, where I kept 
 the number down to the original five. 
 
 Now the one thousand wolves^ — put the increase at that 
 number — will do as much damage as the profits of several 
 big stockmen will amount to in a year. If I had killed 
 off what would have produced that number I have saved 
 the farmers and stockmen thousands of dollars. At $3 
 a head, I got $000 for those 300 wolves. Does it look as 
 though I was giving the stockmen the worth of their 
 money or not? 
 
 Now these wolves were killed .on a little piece of land 
 twenty-four miles square. Last year I caught 148 wolves 
 in thirty-five days on the same land. Suppose the same 
 ratio of wolves were found all over the prairies in the 
 state. 
 
 There are 50,000 square miles of lana in the western part 
 of the state and wolves are found- on a large number of 
 miles of it. Let them increase at the rate I have shown 
 and the stockmen will have to increase the bounty or quit 
 the stock business. But if enough bounty is paid right 
 along to encourage a few experienced wolf hunters to 
 stay in the business and clean out the increase, with as 
 many of the old wolves as can be killed, the wolf question 
 will eventually settle itself, for a race of animals must 
 either increase or die out altogether — it cannot stand still, 
 I believe the stockmen of this country are in favor of kill- 
 ing off the wolf tribe altogether. But they will never 
 succeed by offering a bounty one year and taking it off the 
 next. For the wolves will increase enough in one year, 
 if they are not killed off, to make up for several years 
 when they have been killed for the bounty. Pay a bounty 
 right along until the wolves are killed off. 
 
 In the past nine years I have caught some 1.100 wolves. 
 On an average I have received Jj^S a head for them. That 
 is a total of $3,300. I have aiscounted the warrants from 
 time to time, so my actual receipts are much less than 
 this. But surely these wolves would have done $10 damage 
 
The Wolf Hunter''s Guide. 41 
 
 apiece it they had lived, not counting what damage would 
 have been done by their increase, and that alone is $10,000, 
 all of which would have come out of the farmers and stock- 
 men. I have received a little over $3,000, and I have saved 
 the stockmen $10,000. Does that look as though I were 
 beating anybody on the wolf bounty? Does it not rather 
 show that an experienced wolf hunter is a man whom the 
 stockmen should pay well to keep in the stock country. 
 
 CORBIN'S WOLF BARM. 
 
 One of the most picturesque and interesting characters 
 in the western part of this state is Ben Corbin of Glencoe, 
 Emmons county, known all over the state as the "boss wolf 
 hunter." Corbin has made a life study of wolf trapping 
 and as a result has caught more wolves than possibly any 
 other hunter in the northwest. He is accustomed to com- 
 pute his season's catch by hundreds, and as the bounty 
 on the animals ranges from $3 to $5 a head, according to 
 the county in which they are caught, he makes a good liv- 
 ing at wolf trapping alone. 
 
 Corbin is a Virginian by birth and has been a hunter 
 and trapper all his life. Every season, when the wolves 
 give birth to their young, he is early on the trail of the 
 animals, and in the territory of twenty-five square miles 
 he manages to keep the young ones pretty well cleaned 
 out. The old ones he does not often touch. His reason for 
 sparing them is a selfish one, and yet natural. He says: 
 *'I have practically all the wolf dens in my locality spotted 
 and knew where to find them every year. The litter of a 
 female wolf ranges from five to nine wolves, and as I catch 
 the whole litter every year each female wolf is worth $15 
 to $30 a year to me, as I get $3 each for the young wolves. 
 If I kill the old one I deprive myself of this revenue." 
 This is the argument that Corbin makes to the county com- 
 missioners and the state for a larger bounty on old female 
 wolves. He says if a bounty of $10 each were offered for 
 the old female wolves they would be killed, where at 
 present they are spared by wolf hunters out of considera- 
 tion for the revenue they bring in the shape of young ones. 
 In the past nine years Corbin has kept an account of five 
 old wolves in the territory over which he has hunted and 
 he says he has received nearly $1,000 in the shape of 
 bounty on the young they have produced. This he calls 
 reducing the wolf bounty business to a science. 
 
 Corbin's methods of catching young wolves is one which 
 he devised himself, and which, so far as known, is em- 
 ployed by no other wolf hunter in the state. The ordinary 
 methods of killing the animals are by shooting them, by 
 poisoning them and by hunting them with dogs. But all 
 of these methods are open to objection. Poison is no 
 longer a favorite method, for the reason that the wolves 
 
42 Corbin's Advice ; Or 
 
 after a time become suspicious and refuse to touch the 
 poison that is set for them. There is also the ODjection 
 that the poison becomes scattered over the grass by the 
 rain and wind and cattle eat of the poisoned grass and 
 die. Shooting the wolves is difficult, for the reason that 
 the animals are wary. Hunting them with dogs is ex- 
 cellent sport, but unprofitable occupation for the profes- 
 sional wolf hunter, for the reason that the catches average 
 at best only one or two wolves a day. Corbin's method 
 overcomes all these difficulties and objections, and is as 
 sim^ple as ABC, He catches the young wolves with 
 fishhooks and a steel line, and has been known to land 
 eight young wolves on the same line in one night. 
 
 The wolves live in dens in the earth, after the manner 
 of badgers, except that the dens are larger. When Corbin 
 locates the den, he waits until night and then brings his 
 fishing line and hooks into play. The steel line is fastened 
 to a stout stake driven into the ground and is then carried 
 beneath the soil through the region immediately about 
 the den. From the main wire are numerous smaller wires 
 projecting in all directions, to the end of each of which is 
 a spring fishhook. These hooks are baited with good- 
 sized pieces of chicken breast or other tempting morsels 
 
 When the young wolves leave the den at night to prowl 
 about in search of food the first thing they encounter is 
 these scattered bits of meat. The wolf is a ravenous an- 
 imal, and bolts small bits of meat whole. The young ones 
 attack these bits of meat and swallow them, snap goes the 
 bolted spring hook, and the wolf is fast. Every effort 
 made by the wolf to get away adds tO' the pain inflicted by 
 the hook, which has found lodgment in his stomach or 
 throat, and he soon learns that absolute quiet is the best 
 method under the circumstances. Not infrequently Cor- 
 bin returns to the den in the morning to find every one 
 of the young wolves caught on the spring hooks. The 
 steel wire prevents their biting it in two and escaping in 
 this fashion, and as the animals are all securely fastened, 
 it is no difficult task to knock them in the head with a 
 club, take their scalps and leave the bodies for the buzz- 
 ards. 
 
 This process is repeated at every den which may be 
 discovered by the hunter, and seldom without success. 
 Hundreds of young wolves are caught every season, and 
 their scalps brought in for the bounty. The same ground 
 is gone over every season, with the same results, and 
 Corbin pockets annually hundreds of dollars as the result 
 of his ingenuity. He has endeavored to have the fishhook 
 and line patented as a means of catching wolves but the 
 patent office does not consider an old device patentable 
 as applied to a new end, and he has been unable to secure 
 a patent. 
 
 Corbin makes some calculations of the number of wolves 
 
The Wolf Hunter'' s Guide. 43 
 
 in the western part of the state which are startling to 
 stockmen. He claims that from tne number of wolves 
 he has caught on twenty-five square miles of territory, 
 if the same number exists on every other equal section 
 of territory, and it is reasonable to suppose there is, there 
 are 300,000 wolves in the western part of the state, and the 
 annual damage they do to cattle and all stock interests 
 is enormous. But so long as the bounty is the same on 
 old wolves as young, he says the wolf hunters will 
 content themselves with killing as many young wolves 
 as they can, without harming the old ones, and there will 
 be no perceptible advance made in the diminution of the 
 original number of wolves. 
 
 FIXING THE TAX LEVY. 
 
 Mr. Carlblom moved that the state tax levy to defray 
 the general expenses of the state for the current year be 
 fixed at the specific sum of four hundred and thirty-one 
 thousand eight hundred and eighteen dollars, ($431,- 
 818.00) being at the rate of three and eight-tenths (3.8) 
 mills on the dollar of the assessed valuation of all taxable 
 property in the state as equalized by the state board of 
 equalization for the year 1899. 
 
 That the state tax levy to pay interest on the state debt 
 for the current year be fixed at the sum of fifty-six 
 thousand eight hundred and eighteen dollars ($56,818.00) 
 being at the rate of five-tenths (.5) of one mill on the 
 dollar of the assessed valuation of all taxable property 
 in the state as equalized by the state board of equaliza- 
 tion for the year 1899; and, 
 
 That the special tax levy for the payment of wolf 
 bounties be fixed at the specific sum of twenty-two thou- 
 sand seven hundred and twenty-seven dollars (.$22,7:27.00) 
 being at the rate of two-tenths (.2) of one mill on the 
 dollar of the assessed valuation of all taxable property 
 in the state as equalized by the state board of equalization 
 for the year 1899. 
 
 Valuation of all property within the state of North Da- 
 kota as fixed by the state board of equalization: 
 
 Real property $ 72,110,0o9 
 
 Personal property 25,209,411 
 
 Railroad Property 17,'oi4,'908 
 
 Total valuation of state $ 114,334,428 
 
 LEVY. 
 
 Mills 
 General 3.8 
 
 Bond interest .5 
 
 Wolf bounty ,2 
 
 Total 4,5 
 
44 Corbin's Advice ; Or, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SIGNS IN WOLF HUNTING. HOW IT CAN BE MADE 
 MORE PROFITABLE THAN STOCK RAISING. MY 
 TREATMENT BY THE LEGISLATURE OF 1898. 
 
 LETTER FROM A STOCK RAISER. 
 
 Uncle Ben Corbin nas a book in press and — strange 
 as it may appear to those who know the trouble that it is 
 to get the renowned author to converse on the subject 
 of wolves — the book is devoted entirely to that branch of 
 natural history. In a recent letter to the Record Col. 
 Corbin says: 
 
 '"Ever since word got out that I was writing a book 
 on 'Wolfology' I have been receiving many letters wanting 
 to know what I would take to tell them how I catch so 
 many wolves, and for that reason I have issued a circular 
 stating that the book will be out about April 20 — in time 
 to help move the 1900 crop. I have given notice that 
 Benjamin Corbin, general manager of the state of North 
 Dakota and superintendent oi the wolf industry of the 
 west, has called a convention to be known as 'The Wolf 
 Convention,' to try to work up some plan to destroy the 
 8G2,.500 young wolves which will be the increase for the 
 present year, and also to get away with as many old wolves 
 as possible. Everybody that eats meat or wears woolen 
 clothes or leather shoes is interested. 
 
 "There has nothing turned up around Glencoe more than 
 has happened heretofore. The river is still rising and is 
 full of — (Here the writer's pen sort o' slipped, and we 
 cannot exactly say whether the colonel intended to write 
 'ice' or 'geese.' — Ed. Record.) 
 
 "I have stalk to to let on shears. These stalk is all 
 climated, and their ancestors settled in this country be- 
 fore Gen. Lounsberry or Cox. Jewell. The stalk was raised 
 here and is healthy and in good order. They never die 
 with black leg or game leg or any other kind of a leg. Yon 
 don't have to feed 'em any ihay. If you have a chicken or 
 a turkey or a lam or a caf, my stalk will take care of it 
 for you. The dry weather doesn't affect my crop, and a 
 wet season is all the better. All you need to start with is 
 about twenty head, and in a couple of years you can dig 
 about twenty dens each year. Twenty miles square is 
 enough for one man to manage. It is easy work as all 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 45 
 
 you have to do is to gather the increase when it is ripe — 
 in May or June. It doesn't make any difference which 
 one you kill, for it is a well-known scientific fact that wolves 
 are different from other insects, and that either sex can 
 have pups. 
 
 "I furnish all the stalk and teach all you want to know; 
 but you will have to stay with me two weeks to learn all 
 the science, and for the two weeks' board I charge you $15, 
 and at the end of your time you git your diplomy as a 
 'wolfologist.'" 
 
 Signed BUJN CORBIN, 
 
 Superintendent of the Wolf Industry of the State of North 
 Dakota. 
 
 CORBIN BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Immediately after the committee of the whole of the 
 house had risen yesterday, Mr. Stevens moved that the 
 privileges of the floor be extended to Ben Corbin, "the boss 
 wolf hunter of North Dakota," in order to give him an 
 opportunity to explain the wolf question from a practical 
 standpoint. The motion prevailed and Mr. Stevens was 
 appointed to escort the famous wolf scalper to the speaker's 
 stand. The committee was not long in finding the eccen- 
 tric slayer of wolves and wnen he was piloted through the 
 swing doors of the house he was greeted with cheers loud 
 and long. In his left hand he carried a valise of uncertain 
 age while a three-months beard protected his face from the 
 slope's winter breezelet. 
 
 Once landed upon the speaker's stand the wolf hunter 
 began his remarks by saying that it was probably the first 
 time in the history of the state, when an honest man had 
 addressed the members from the stand. (Laughter.) 
 
 "There are three kinds of wolves, ladies and gentlemen 
 in this state, the gray wolf, the coyote and the two-legged 
 wolf. The two-legged wolves are the county cimmission- 
 ers who knock off bounty. (Laughter.) 
 
 I have hunted wolves forty years and nine years in Da- 
 kota. I know their habits and know the great damage 
 they do to the stock interests of the state. 
 
 The speaker closed as follows: 
 
 "Now the whole matter in a nutshell is simply this: 
 Does it pay the stockmen better to save .$3 or $4 in extra 
 taxes each year for a wolf bounty and lose $20 or $30 worth 
 of stock from the wolves? Does it pay the merchant to 
 save the price of a safe to keep his money in and lose all 
 of it the first time a burglar enters his store at night? 
 Hj The principle is the same. For instance, Emmons county 
 «^' has GOO wolves and if it takes a pound of beef a day to 
 feed each one it costs the stockmen $15 a day at 2% cents 
 a pound. Burleigh county has 800 wolves and it" would 
 cost $20 a day at the same figures. Morton county has 
 
46- Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 
 
 1,500 wolves, or an expense to the stockmen of $37.50 a 
 day. North Dakota with 100,000 wolves would contribute 
 every day beef to the value of .$2,500 to feed them. There 
 are 290,000 sheep and 890,000 cattle in North Dakota. How 
 long will they last?" 
 
 The number of 2-year-old steers necessary to feed the 
 wolves for one year is 81,111 head. Thanking you, ladies 
 and gentlemen, for your close attention and your bad be- 
 havior, I am yours as ever, Ben Corbin, the wolf hunter. 
 
 Remember, the wolf is cunning and sly and hard to catch. 
 Novices and amateurs have no business with the wolf, un- 
 less they are first instructed in the habits of the animals 
 and the mode of their capture. The wily brute will 
 ^'laugh" at them. It takes an expert hunter to catch the 
 wolf, and this, in plain English, he cannot be unless the 
 state pays a bounty to reimburse and make a reasonable 
 profit for the man who has paid an expert to teach him 
 the secrets of the business and explain to him the "signs" 
 left by the animals, without a knowledge of which wolf 
 hunting as an occupation would be unremunerative. 
 
 Sheep cannot increase in a ratio of more than 2 to 1 an- 
 nually, while the wolf population is augmented by from 
 600 to 800 per cent each year, and in a little while there 
 will be overwhelming numbers of them unless the work of 
 destruction is vigorously encouraged and prosecuted. It 
 matters little to the hunters where the pay comes from, 
 so that ic comes sure; but without it, certain it is, that 
 the necessary work of destruction will not be done at all. 
 
 Even now people have to watch their flocks in the day 
 time even, to keep the wolves away from them. 
 
 So you see, I kill about one old wolf for every twenty 
 young ones that I catch. While I am trying to kill the 
 old wolf I kill 20 cubs and geit .$60, and for the old one I 
 get only $.3. So there is nO' inducement to kill the old 
 wolf, for she is not worth any more to me than a young 
 one. It would be better to pay $10 for the old one than 
 it is to pay for the increase. It has already gone too far, 
 and, without a larger bounty, the wolves will be here by 
 thousands, and you can't help it. 
 
 DOES IT PAY? 
 
 Glencoe, Emmons County, Jan. 8. — To The Forum: Does 
 it pay to raise Russian thistle in place of Hungarian Brome 
 grass? Or wild mustard in place of No. 1 hard? Or blind 
 pigs in place of Poland and Berkshire? The question 
 answers itself. 
 
 Does it pay to quarantine for scarlet fevers, smallpox, or 
 diphtheria, to disinfect house and garments, to stay the 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 47 
 
 bubonic plague, to check and stamp out infectious diseases? 
 Only a criminal carelessness will allow these to run riot, 
 and become a menace^ curse and death. 
 
 Does it pay to be penny-wise and pound-foolish? To 
 save at spigot and waste at bung-hole? 
 
 Does it pay to let thousands of sheep and cattle be killed 
 by wolves and have state and county take little or no steps, 
 to stop? Stockmen give these bloodthirsty, unsatisfiable 
 brutes, every year, from cattle and sheep, from calves and 
 lambs, more than the wolf bounty would amount to. 
 
 Every year the demand and supply of blood becomes 
 greater. No man will work for no wages. Let the state 
 and county pay enough bounty to make it an object to 
 kill wolves, and within five years, this never-satisfied and 
 ever-increasing appetite and loss will be, largely, a thing 
 of the past. 
 
 Does it pay? It will pay. And the longer it is put off, 
 the more it will cost. BEN CORBIN. 
 
 THIS IS OUR UNCLE BEN. 
 
 Uncle Ben Oorbin wants $112 from Burleigh county for 
 wolf scalps. The commissioners won't pay it and Uncle 
 Ben is now after the scalps of the commissioners. And 
 Uncle Ben is quite a successful trapper. — Fargo Call. 
 o^ 
 
 The gavel which the state of Iowa will present to Gen. 
 D. B. Henderson^ in honor of his being the first speaker 
 from west of the Mississippi, will be a gorgeous affair. The 
 wood came from Admiral Montojo's flagship, "Reina Maria 
 Christina," which Admiral Dewey sank. There will be 
 three solid gold plates on the gavel, one bearing Mr. Hen- 
 derson's monogram, another the seal of Iowa, and another 
 the seal of the United States. There are also plates bear- 
 ing the wild rose, Iowa's flower, and a row of ears of com 
 will run around the ferrule. Other flgures will appear 
 also. All work is tO' be engraved on solid gold. 
 
 I am from Iowa. I lived in Wayne county twenty-five 
 years. I caught my first wolves in Wayne county. The 
 bounty was 75 cents per scalp. I hunted all over Iowa. 
 I made $112 off of one wolf in Sioux county; my dog pulled 
 her tail off and she had from nine to twelve pups a year. 
 The bounty was $2.50 and I got twelve pups and $30, and 
 she lived seven miles west of Orange City, and far as I 
 know is alive yet. 
 
 An hour of triumph comes at last to those who watch 
 and wait, and the sign is getting fresher. It has been a long 
 time between drinks. 
 
48 Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THE FARMER. 
 WOLF BOUNTY. 
 
 I desire to call your especial attention to the results of 
 the present bounty law enacted during the closing days of 
 the last legislature. Since that law went into effect, up to 
 the 15th day of December, 18!)G, bounty claims have been 
 filed for ihe killing of wolves amounting, in the aggregate, 
 to the sum of $47,123, and warrants have been issued in 
 the sum of $G, 816. There is now on file claims for bounty 
 for killing above named animals for which no warrants 
 have been issued, amounting to $40,307. The revenues 
 available under the law are not sufficient to meet more 
 than one-fourth of the claims filed annually for bounty. 
 The result is that payment is deferred so long that the 
 bounty claims and certificates are discounted to such a 
 large extent that they are almost worthless in the hands 
 of the holders and for this reason those who engage in 
 killing these animals secure only a small per cent of the 
 amount allowed by the state for each animal thus killed. 
 
 I am reliably informed that the principal damage to stock 
 from wild animals is caused by the grey wolf, and would 
 therefore recommend that all bounty laws be repealed ex- 
 cept the bounty on grey wolves and the law be framed 
 so as to prevent, as far as possible, frauds or the imposi- 
 tion upon the public officials of the hides or scalps of 
 coyotes for those of the grey wolves. By confining the 
 bounty to these animals alone the revenue will, in a meas- 
 ure, meet the demands and the hunters will receive cash 
 for their claims and the incentive to hunt and kill these 
 destructive pests will be multiplied by the increased cash 
 value of their certificates. 
 
 The following from the Bismarck Tribune gives the his- 
 tory of the passage of the wolf bounty law in the North 
 Dakota legislature: 
 
 House Bill 57, special tax of one-third mill for payment 
 of wolf bounty was considered. Mr. Stevens moved to 
 amend by striking out the amendment confining the tax 
 to the years 1800 and 1000. He stated the deficiency in the 
 tax of one-tenth mill for the state wolf bounty. The state 
 was in honor bound to pay the bounty it had authorized. 
 It had no right to repudiate the obligation it had incurred. 
 The provision for payment of bounties was insufficient. 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 49 
 
 The state was morally bound to pay them, as any other de- 
 ficiency. 
 
 Mr. Lynch said he did not think the valley counties 
 should pay increased tax to the slope counties, when they 
 got no benefit. 
 
 Mr. Bacon, thought the stockmen on the slope should 
 hire a few men to kill the wolves. It was a rank injustice 
 to appropriate nearly as much for wolf killing as to main- 
 tain the largest educational institution in the state. 
 
 Mr. Chacey did noit propose to support any measure that 
 proposed to legislate in the interests of tne stockmen as 
 against the farmers. 
 
 The motion to amend was lost. 
 
 Mr. Dougherty wanted to amend the bill by a levy on 
 personal property, but withdrew the amendment. 
 Mr. Lynch moved to indefinitely postpone the bill. 
 Mr. Hale said he did not believe the state could afford 
 to go forth as a repudiator. The state should pay the obli- 
 gations on file in the auditor's office. Repeal the bounty 
 law if desired, but the state must pay its honest debts. 
 
 Mr. Sargent said the law was passed in good faith. The 
 state could not afford to repudiate the debt. 
 
 Mr. Bacon did not want to repudiate — he wanted the 
 payment of the debt to extend over several years — he did 
 not believe in attempting to pay the debt all at once. He 
 moved to place the levy at two-tenths mill, which was all 
 he thought the state could afford. 
 
 Mr. Chacey said he was in favor of paying for the dead 
 ones — no more live ones. 
 
 Mr. Dougherty wanted to know what guarantee the state 
 would have that it would not be as badly off two years from 
 now. 
 
 Mr, Wolbert said it was a more lionest debt than the 
 legislature had voted when it recently passed a bill making 
 appropriations for an expense which the state had forbid- 
 den. He thought the debt should be paid and make the 
 bounty big enough so that the man who killed the wolves 
 should get the bojinty — not have to discount to the specu- 
 lator for a fraction of what the law provided. 
 
 Mr. Hare said the part of the state west of the river re- 
 ceived not a cent from the state in the way of an appropria- 
 tion except what was paid out for wolf bounty. Take off 
 the wolf bounty — ^allow them to increase — and the Red 
 River valley would be crying for bounty. The valley 
 should help to build up the western part of the state — 
 protect the stock industry — the second in the state. 
 
 Mr. Stanford agreed — no one part of the state should be 
 selfish — ^the eastern part of the state should aid the west — 
 the latter paid tax for institutions in the east — there should 
 be mutual interest and assistance. 
 
 Mr. Wallace was not in favor of repudiation or anything 
 that looked like it. Last week the state voted $420,000 
 
50 CorbiTVs Advice ; Or, 
 
 for institutions east of the river — ^this morning the legisla- 
 ture had voted the single $1,250 that remained away from 
 the west side. The legislature should pass the bill as it 
 stood — follow the golden rule. 
 
 Mr. McHarg said the bill should pass as it is — pay the 
 bounty and protect the stock, but do not put a perpetual 
 tax on the state. 
 
 Mr. Bacon's amendment was adopted, providing for a 
 levy of two-tenths mill. 
 
 Mr. Hale offered an amendemnt providing for the levy 
 of the tax by the state board of equalization which was 
 adopted. 
 
 The bill was reported to pass as amended. The bill as 
 finally amended provides for a levy of two-tenths mill 
 during the years 1899 to 1900. 
 
 LOOKING FOR SOME NICE $5-MUTTON. 
 
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 The following table of the number of pounas of various 
 articles to a bushel, may be of interest to our readers: 
 
 Of wheat, sixty pounds. 
 
 Of shelled corn, fifty-six pounds. 
 
 Of corn on the cob^ seventy pounds. 
 
 Of rye, fifty-six pounds. 
 
 Of oats, thirty-six pounds. 
 
 Of barley, forty-six pounds. 
 
 Of potatoes, sixty pounds. * 
 
 Of beans, sixty pounds. 
 
 Of bran, twenty pounds. 
 
 Of clover seed, sixty pounds. 
 
 Of timothy seed, forty-five pounds. 
 
 Of flax seed, forty-five pounds. 
 
 Of hemp seed, forty-four pounds. 
 
 Of buckwheat, fifty-two pounds. 
 
 Of blue grass seed, fourteen pounds. 
 
 Of castor ])eans, forty-six pounds. 
 
 Of dried peaches, thirty-three pounds. 
 
 Of dried apples, twenty-four pounds. 
 
 Of onions, fifty-seven pounds. 
 
 Of salt, fifty pounds. 
 
The Wolf Hunter'' s Guide. 51 
 
 TABLE OF DISTANCES. 
 
 The following table may be useful to the gardener, in 
 showing the number of plants, or trees, that may be raised 
 on an acre of ground, when planted at .any of the under- 
 mentioned distances: 
 
 Distance Apart ' No. Plants 
 
 1 foot 43,560 
 
 IV, foot 19,360 
 
 2 feet 10,890 
 
 2yo feet 6,869 
 
 3 teet 4,840 
 
 4 feet 2,7^:2 
 
 5 feet 1,742 
 
 6 feet 1,210 
 
 9 feet 537 
 
 12 feet 362 
 
 15 feet 193 
 
 18 feet • 134 
 
 21 feet 98 
 
 24 feet 75 
 
 27 feet 59 
 
 30 feet 48 
 
 o 
 
 The American Agriculturist says, to illustrate what the 
 
 weekly saving, or the extra production will amount to in 
 a single year, we select the following common items: 
 
 One egg a week, at 37c. per doz $ 1.60 
 
 Two eggs a week, at I8V2C. per doz 1.60 
 
 0ns quart wheat a week, at 96c. per bushel 1.60 
 
 One and a half quarts corn a week, at 66c. per 
 
 bushel 1 . 61 
 
 Three quarts corn a week, at 33c. per bushel 1 . 61 
 
 Two quarts potatoes a week, at 50c. per buShel. ... 1,62 
 
 Four quarts potatoes a week, at 25c. per bushel. ... 1.62 
 
 One cabbage a week, at 3c. per head 1.56 
 
 One and one-quarter quarts milk a week, at 2c. per 
 
 quart 1 . 56 
 
 One and three-quarter oz. butter a week, at 32c. per 
 
 pound 1 . 56 
 
 One-quarter lb. sugar a week, at 12c. per pound .... 1 . 56 
 
 One-half oz. tea a week, at 96c. per pound 1.56 
 
 One and one-half oz. coffee a week, at 32c. per 
 
 pound 1 . 56 
 
 One postage stamp a week, at 3 oents 1.56 
 
 One poor cigar a week, at 3 cents 1 . 56 
 
 Total $ 28.66 
 
 A practical suggestion is, that any one of the above items 
 saved, or produced extra, will pay for the American Agri- 
 culturist a whole year, postage included. 
 
52 Corbhi's Advice ; Or, 
 
 DEMAND OUT-GROWING SUPPLY. 
 
 In speaking on this subject, the national provisioner, 
 which is authority, says: "The cattle shortage exists. 
 There is an effort among our ranchmen to stock up and to 
 breed up, but the increase of population at a greater rate 
 than the increase of the beef and swine herds, backed by 
 the increased demand abroad for our food stuffs 
 widens the deficiency between supply and demand. "^ 
 How long this condition will last is uncertain^ 
 but all efforts in this direction will hardly meet the grow- 
 ing deficiency in the range supply. The northwest, because 
 of the extension of agriculture and encroachment of the 
 sheep herds will continue to diminish its cattle' ranges. 
 The time when the territories can be used for the exten- 
 sive cattle production that has for years made them so 
 important an element of the industry can last but little 
 longer. The area of range production must, In tne natural 
 order of things, continue to diminish, while the require- 
 ments of home and foreign consumption grow steadily 
 larger. 
 
 "Beside these, which may be considered the normal 
 elements of the situation, there are what may be called 
 emergency requirements that have become of considerable 
 importance. These are the wars of our own country and 
 of England in distant fields where troops must be supplied 
 largely witn the products of the packing houses, which 
 governments are learning to depend upon more and more 
 in time of war. To this class of requirements also belongs 
 the demand of Cuba, whose ranges and farms must have 
 many thousands of cattle. It has been suggested that the 
 high price of cattle would cause a development of the mut- 
 ton growing industry that would lead to a considerable 
 substitution of mutton tor beef, and that pork production 
 would be greatly increased. The fact is that there is a 
 short supply of both sheep and hogs in tne country as of 
 cattle. The sheepmen are holding on to their herds, and 
 there is reason to believe that not more than half as many 
 lambs are being put on feed as went into the feed lots a 
 year ago. 
 
 "Of course such a situation must in time develop a very 
 much larger stock farming industry in the portions of the 
 country adapted to it, but this, for reasons not necessary 
 to recite, must be a gradual development and it will be 
 some years before it can materially affect the market. In 
 the meantime cows are going to market from some sections, 
 and in the feed pens, which are lightly supplied this sea- 
 son, there are more 2-year-olds in proportion to the num- 
 ber on feed than ever before, and quite a large number 
 of yearlings. Everything in tne situation indicates that 
 cattle prices are far more likely to advance than to decline, 
 and that for many years the producer of cattle of good 
 quality win be master of the situation. ' 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 53' 
 
 AN OLD-TIME WOLF HUNTER. 
 
 The following is a characteristic circular published years 
 ago by Ben Corbin, when he lived down in Iowa. The ter- 
 ritory or county, or both, gave a big bonus for wolf scalps, 
 and made no difference as to age. An Emmons county 
 man who knew Mr. C. in those days once told us that,, 
 after many payments for cub-woxf scalps, an official said: 
 "Mr. Corbin, how is it? Your wolves are all pups. Pon't 
 you ever kill and old ones?" Ben replied with a twink.e 
 in his eye, "Did you ever know a man to succeed in the 
 stock business who killed all his cows?" But the follow- 
 ing is Ben's unique advertisement: 
 
 Honesty and Fair Dealing. 
 
 Ben Corbin, of Grant Center, Iowa, is 
 
 the Only Man in the Business. 
 
 Fish, Wine, Wolves, or Land. 
 
 I have the finest location in Iowa for hunting, fishing, 
 
 or drinking wine. I sell fish at 10 cents per pound and 
 
 fine pure wine at $1.50 per gallon, put up in good style 
 
 and sweetened to the taste. Duck hunters, sporting men 
 
 and trappers will be charged 25 cents per meal at my 
 
 house; but I will give you a good, square meal. 
 
 I can, and do, catch more wolves in a month than any 
 man living; but the money must be in sight first. 
 For more particulars address 
 
 BEN CORBIN, 
 Grant Center, Iowa. 
 
 That Benjamin was a mighty hunter in those days is 
 shown by the annexed newspaper clippings: 
 
 Ben Corbin of Monona county, is the boss wolf hunter, 
 and is well known in this county. In the last three weeks 
 he has caught thirty-eight wolves in Lyon county, thirty- 
 six in Sioux, and five in Monona. He has hunted over 
 this county for four years. I'ne first year he caught in 
 Lyon county, three; the second, twenty-five; the third, 
 seventeen; and this year, as stated above, thirty-eight. If 
 anybody can beat that let him come forward. — Rock 
 Rapids Review. 
 
 Ben Corbin of Grant township, the wolf hunter, was in 
 town on Monday last. In conversatioR with the Press re- 
 porter he informed the latter that he had closed his hunt 
 for the season, having captured eighty-four wolves and two 
 foxes. Of that number thirty-eight were killed in Lyon 
 county, thirty-four in Sioux county, four in Woodbury, and 
 five in Monona. While on the hunt in Lyon county he suc- 
 ceeded, after a sharp chase, in capturing a couple of foxes. 
 Ben feels especially proud of his success this season, hav- 
 ing the good luck to number among his trophies of the 
 hunt the scalps of six old wolves, the latter number of old 
 ones being ahead of any former season's work. — Mapleton 
 Press. 
 
54 Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 
 
 WHEN PAPA WAS A BOY. 
 
 "When papa was a little boy 
 
 You really couldn't find 
 In all the state of Washington 
 
 A child so quick to mind. 
 His mother never called but once. 
 
 And pa was always there; 
 He never made the baby cry, 
 
 Or pulled his sister's hair. 
 "He never slid down banisters. 
 
 Or made the slightest noise; 
 And never in his life was known 
 
 To fight with other boys. 
 He always studied hard at school, 
 
 And got his lessons right; 
 And chopping wood and milking cows 
 
 Were papa's chief delight. 
 "He always rose at 6 o'clock 
 
 And went to bed at 8. 
 And never lay abed till noon 
 
 And never sat up late. 
 He finished Latin, French and Greek 
 
 When he was 10 years old, 
 And knew the Spanish alphabet 
 
 As soon as he was told. 
 "He never grumbled when he had 
 
 To do all the evening cnores. 
 And ne'er in all his life forget 
 
 To shut the stable doors. 
 He never, never thought of play 
 
 Until his work was done. 
 He labored hard from break of day 
 
 Until the set of sun. 
 "He never scraped his muddy shoes 
 
 Upon the parlor floor. 
 And never answered back his ma, 
 
 And never banged the door. 
 But truly I could never see," 
 
 Said little Dick Malloy, 
 *'How he could never do these things, 
 
 And really be a boy." 
 
 — Selected. 
 
 When growing stock you have something all the time 
 turning into money. When crops are the sole dependence, 
 there are seasons when everything is at a standstill, and 
 there is no source of income. In the winter the earth is 
 asleep while we watch the cattle contentedly feeding. If 
 there is a sudden need of money some one of them is 
 always ready to bring it. 
 
The Wolf Hiinter''s Guide. 55 
 
 THE MORTGAGE. 
 
 I am the finishing touch to the home; 
 I am the last requirement on the farm; 
 You may build ever so grandly, 
 You may furnish ever so richly, 
 You may construct ever so homely, 
 You may live ever so poorly, 
 I abide with like composure with each. 
 Wealth does not embarrass me; 
 Poverty does not discourage me, 
 I get into correspondence 
 With my environments, 
 And composedly put in my time. 
 Patience is my principal virtue; 
 Waiting creates my wages. 
 I am the invisible man 
 Put into the house to collect. 
 Those who wine and dine as guests 
 Do not suspect my presence; 
 But I chalk my daily balance all the same, 
 I am great on the farm. 
 Abundant crops do not excite me 
 Nor poor ones discourage me. 
 I am more industrious than the farmer. 
 Though he rises at dawn 
 And labors until night, 
 For I neither slumber nor sleep. 
 No matter how poorly the farmer fares, 
 I always farm at a profit. 
 If harvests are good, I have my share; 
 If crops fail, I live on the land. 
 I go deeper than drouth; 
 Hot winds do not blow me away; 
 Cyclones cannot uproot me; 
 Grasshoppers ao not eat my substance 
 Or chinch bugs suck out my vitality. 
 I lay in the bank and laugh at the farmer's 
 Calamity, 
 
 And when the appointed time comes 
 I arouse myself and go forth. 
 Armed with the power of tne law. 
 And swipe from the farmer his 
 House, his land, his hope. 
 
 AN OBLIGING SON-IN-LAW. 
 
 "Oh, Tom," exclaimed the bride of six months, "what do 
 you think! Mother says she wants her body cremated." 
 
 "She does, eh?" said the husband. "Well, tell her to get 
 ready and I'll take her over to the crematory the first thing 
 in the morning." 
 
.56 Corbin^s Advice; Or, 
 
 GROWTH AND LIFE OF ANIMALS. 
 
 Man grows for 20 years, and lives 90 or 100 years. 
 
 The horse grows for 5 years, and lives 30 years. 
 
 The ass grows for 5 years, and lives 3(» years. 
 
 The ox grows for 4 years, and lives 15 to 20 years. 
 
 The cow grows for 4 years, and lives 20 years. 
 
 The hog lives 12 to 15 years. 
 
 The sheep lives 10 years. 
 
 The camel grows for 8 years, and lives 40 years. 
 
 The lion grows for 4 years, and lives 40 years. 
 
 The dog grows for 2 years, and lives 12 to 14 years. 
 
 The cat grows for ly^ years, and lives 9 or 10 years. 
 
 The hare grows for jl year and lives S years. 
 
 The guinea pig grows 7 months, and lives or 7 years. 
 
 The beaver liveis 30 years. 
 
 The deer and wolf live 20 years. 
 
 The fox lives 14 to ItJ years. 
 
 The squirrel lives 7 years. 
 
 The rabbit lives 7 years. 
 
 The eagle lives 100 years. 
 
 Geese live 20 years. 
 
 Hens and pigeons live 10 to 15 years. ^ 
 
 The elephant, 100 years; codfish, 14 to 17 years; eels, 10 
 years; crocodile, 100 years; queen bees, 4 years; drones, 4 
 months; worker bees, Q months. 
 
 Periods of gestation are the same in the horse and ass, 
 11 months each; camel, 12 months; elephant, 2 years; lion, 
 5 months; buffalo, 12 months; cow, 9 months; sheep, 5 
 months; reindeer, 8 months; monkey, 7 months; bear, 6 
 months; sow, 4 months; dog, nine weeks; cat. 8 weeks; rab- 
 bit, 4 weeks; guinea pig, 3 weeks; she wolf, 90 to 95 days; 
 the "goose sits 3() days; swans, 42; hens. 21; ducks, 30; pea 
 hens and turkeys, 28; canaries, 1^; pigeons, 14; parrots, 40. 
 
 o 
 
 BOUGHT WITH ONE CROP. 
 
 Henry Bonde of Stutsman county last summer cleared 
 up a tidy farm with a single crop. He already owns several 
 quarter sections but he wanted one more quarter which he 
 was fortunate in getting by promising to pay .$800 for the 
 land. Part of the land was broken up previously and all 
 was put under the plow this season and the land seeded 
 to flax and wheat. Seed flax was bought at $1.10 a bushel 
 and the place rented on shares. From the land was 
 realized 1,800 bushels of flax and 500 bushels of wheat. 
 Some of the flax was sold at .$1.19 and some for .$1.10. Out 
 of his share of the crop and after paying half of the thresh 
 bill and for half of the seed Mr. Bonde not only paid for 
 the land but had $25 or $30 beside. 
 
The Wolf Hu7iter^s Guide. 57' 
 
 THE BEST SPEECH EVER MADE. 
 
 The Westminister Review pronounces Lincoln's Gettys- 
 burg speech as the finest that ever fell from human lips. 
 In view of this fact, and that it is even more pertinent 
 than it ever was, we need make no appology for republish- 
 ing it. We give it below: 
 
 Four score and seven years ago our fathers brouglit forth 
 upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and 
 dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 
 Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether 
 that nation^ or any nation so conceived or dedicated, 
 can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of 
 that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the 
 final resting-place of those who here gave their lives that 
 the nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper 
 that we should do this. 
 
 But in a large sense we cannot consecrate, we cannot 
 hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, 
 who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our 
 power to add or detract. The world will little note nor 
 remember long what we say here, but it can never forget 
 what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be 
 dedicated to the unfinished work tnat they have thus far 
 so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedi- 
 cated to the great task remaining before us — that from 
 these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause 
 for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion 
 — that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have 
 died in vain — that the nation shall, under God, have a new 
 birth of freedom, and that the government of the people 
 by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the 
 earth. 
 
 o 
 
 A SHEEP MAN'S PROFIT. 
 
 Says the Dickinson Press: There are few sheepmen in 
 the country who can make a better showing for the capital 
 invested than H. J. Schultz of this place. May 2, 1897, Mr, 
 Schultz bought 1,930 sheep at $2.22 per head, or .$4,284 as 
 first cost. The same year he sold .+11,600 worth of wool 
 from the band and $936 worth of mutton, making $2,530 as 
 the first year's proceeds. In 1898 he sold $2,100 worth of 
 wool and $1,353 worth of mutton, a total of $3,553. This 
 year his wool clip amounts to $2,375. Mr. Schultz has not 
 sold his '99 mutton and has on hand 2,830 sheep. Taking 
 out the originyl numbers purchased, he would still have 900 
 on hand. His total sales of wool and mutton for the two 
 years and throe months that he has had the band amount 
 to $8,358, and the 2,830 sheep that he has on hand are 
 easily worth as much more. 
 
58 Corbiyi's Advice; Or, 
 
 THE HERO'S RETURN. 
 
 He comes from distant ocean; to his native land again, 
 The hero of Manila — who humbled haughty Spain, 
 The man whose wondrous prowess will brighten history's 
 
 page — 
 While honor shall honor valor — till time's remotest age. 
 "Welcome, this son of Neptune, from far Manila's wave, 
 "Old Glory" waving o'er him; the banner of the brave, 
 Columbia, greet your hero — in joyous accents tell 
 How you delight to honor the men who faught so well. 
 He comes — but not as heroes returned from ancient wars, 
 Who fought for spoil, or glory — beneath the flag of Mars; 
 The pathway of those triumphs was marked by ruined 
 
 homes. 
 By servile chains — by wasted plains — by fallen spires 
 
 and domes. 
 No thought of spoil or conquest e'er swayed this hero's 
 
 mind — 
 Save the spoiling of the spoilers, enslavers of mankind; 
 Much cause had those for sorrow — well might they rue 
 
 the day. 
 When first the "Starry Banner" waved above Bay, 
 
 Bay, 
 For never in former ages, on distant sea or shore. 
 Did history's truthful pages record such deeds before. 
 As those of the dauntless Dewey, when on Manila tide 
 His guns awakened the echoes, heard around the world 
 
 wide. 
 The achievement of that morning made Spanish tyrants 
 
 sad. 
 To those it was a warning and patriots' hearts were 
 
 glad; 
 The men of Porto Rico, and those of Cuba's shore. 
 Should hold the name of Dewey in honor ever more. 
 He is coming from the Orient, to- his own beloved shore, 
 And nevermore may walk the bridge when cannons flash 
 
 and roar; 
 'Tis meet that in life's evening, serenely he should rest. 
 The victor's laurel on his brow, and peace within his 
 
 breast. 
 
 M. C. W. 
 
 Emmons county is becoming a stock shipping region. 
 Seventy-three carloads of cattle have been shipped from 
 Braddock on the Soo, and the total shipments for the year 
 from there will reach over 100 cars. So far, $75,100 has 
 been received by ranchers for cattle shipped from that 
 point. 
 
The Wolf Hunter^ s Guide 59' 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SKETCH OP MY WAR RECORD DURING THE CLOSING 
 DAYS OF THE REBELLION. INTERESTING EX- 
 PERIENCES. 
 
 They used to say of Gough, the temperance leader, no mat- 
 ter what his subject was he took water before he got done. 
 So if you follow me, no matter where I go in this narrative, 
 you will find me fetch up on wolves. They are my chorus 
 and song every time. 
 
 I was on my army record the last chapter. I forgot tO' say 
 that my younger brother, Isaac, served in the 9th Iowa 
 cavalry, and was wounded and served ten months in Ander- 
 Eonville and other prisons. Three of my brothers-in-law 
 also served bravely. My father was in the war of 1812, and 
 enlisted for the Mexican war. Five out of his six son^ 
 served with the union army. 
 
 My brother Abner, a soldier, was presiaing eider in the 
 U. B. church. My oldest brother, David, was in the army 
 of the Potomac. My brother John was in the 4th Iowa 
 cavalry, captured, escaped and died in the ambulance near 
 Jackson, Miss. I served in Co. F, 34th Iowa three years 
 and was discharged at Houston, Texas. 
 
 So I am not ashamed of my record or that of my family, 
 although we were Virginians, true blue, with hlood as blue 
 as any that ever dared fire on the flag, and 1 think a little 
 bluer, and true blue at that. 
 
 Ten thousand men under General Steele left the old his- 
 toric town of Pennesecola on the 20th day of March, 1865. 
 General C. C. Andrews commanded the second division of 
 these troops. Colonel G. W. Clark, the 34th Iowa infantry, 
 one of the best regiments in the division. The 34th was 
 called "The Star Regiment," not because it had the wolf 
 liunter in it, but because its number was the same as the 
 stars which filled the field of our flag, and represented the 
 number of states in our union at that time. For eleven 
 days we marched through Florida swamps, corduroying 
 many miles of road, slept in damp clothes at night, was on 
 half rations the last five days. Our men gathered and ate 
 corn which had been left on the ground by the enemy's 
 pickets, and had been slobbered over by their horses. Dur- 
 ing this time we had a number of skirmishes with the 
 rebel cavalry. The first day of April found us opposite 
 Blakely, Ala., at one time a town of 3,000 people, now one 
 
■60 CorbUVs Advice ; Or, 
 
 of the main defenses at Mobile. The fortifications around 
 Blakely were circular in form, three miles long and in- 
 cluded nine well built redoubts, armed with forty pieces of 
 artillery and surrounded by ditches four to five feet deep. 
 All the trees six to eight hundred yards in their front had 
 been felled. Fifty yards out from the works were a line 
 of aDattis, and opposite some of the redoubts a second line, 
 then 300 yards out to the front parallel with those works 
 was another line of abattis, and behind the latter detached 
 rifle pits. The works were manned by 3,500 of the enemy. 
 The 2d of April was occupied in investingthese works, 
 during which operation we lost sixty or seventy killed and 
 wounded. Hawkins' division which was composed of 
 colored troops was on the right, Andrew's division in the 
 center and Girard's on the left. It is supposed that ten 
 men well protected by earth works can successfully resist 
 three or four times their number. So instead of throwing 
 our troops against the enemy's fortifications with great 
 loss of life and possible repulse. General Steele determined 
 to work up as near his lines as possible with pick and 
 shovel, with which we were well supplied; in fact when the 
 campaign at Mobile was commenced, General Canby in 
 general orders, provided that one pick and shovel and one 
 axe be carried by every twelve men. Our first intrench- 
 ments were dug a thousand yards from the enemy's works. 
 For the benefit of our posterity, a few words, as to tempor- 
 ary intrenchments, may be inserted here. They are usu- 
 ally called rifle pits, and are two or three feet deep, the dirt 
 being thrown on the side toward the enemy. Occassionally 
 on top of this dirt will be placed the trunk of a tree six 
 or seven inches in diameter. By scraping away earth from 
 under the trunk, the enemy could be observed without ex- 
 posing the heads of our men. 
 
 These trenches were always dug at night, no talking 
 above a whisper being permiuced, and no sound but that 
 which came from digging with picks and shovels. Owing 
 to the scarcity of these it took three nights work to com- 
 plete our flrst line. The fourth night tne supply of in- 
 trenching tools having been increased, more rapid progress 
 was made, so that by the eighth night we had finished a 
 second and a third line of Intrenchments, the last being 
 six feet wide and capable of holdiing troops in three ranks, 
 and was GOO yards from the rebel works. The skirmishers 
 in front of our division intrenched themselves within 
 eighty yards of the enemy's outer line of pickets. In the 
 meantime small forts for our artillery had been constructed 
 along our first and second lines, and the guns oi our light 
 batteries placed in them. The enemy was not quiet while 
 this was going on, as any exposure of our men drew his 
 fire both of musketry and artillery, killing and wounding 
 each day from twenty to forty. Spanish Fort, eight miles 
 south of which had been invested March 27th by the 16th 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 61 
 
 army corps, surrendered to General A. J. Smith on the 8th 
 and some of the guns used in its seige were immediately 
 sent to General Steele, who had them placed in position 
 during the night of the 8th and the morning of the i)th day 
 of April. Five o'clock the evening of ^ae 9th day of April 
 was fixed as the hour for a general assault of the enemy's 
 works. At that hour the firing of all the cannon on the 
 lines or the second division was to be the signal for the 
 charge. Owing to an unforseen delay, this signal was not 
 given until 5:30 p. m. At thai hour our troops had all been 
 formed in line of battle in the lines ^of intrenchements 
 nearest the enemy, with bayonets fixed one regiment of 
 each brigade being deployed as skirmishers. Along the front 
 of its brigade intrenchments, breathlessly they waited the 
 signal to move forward. The silence was interrupted only 
 by an occasional shot from a rebel picket. The waiting 
 and suspense was a sore test of courage. Some tried to 
 conceal their anxiety by an effort to appear reckless, care- 
 less and whispering jokes and puns, pretending they enjoyed 
 it immonsely; others, more serious, gave their comrades 
 messages to be delivered to loved ones at home in case they 
 fell. The countenance of none indicated that he feared 
 the approaching contest. While all dreaded it, they were 
 impatient for the battle. With the crashing of the signal 
 guns our first line of skirmishers -eaped from the trenches 
 and with yells rushed forward 150 yards, while the second 
 line with loud cheering soon joined them, and all rushec for- 
 ward together. Now every cannon the enemy had on his 
 line, and every rifle, poured forth their deadly missels on our 
 men. A tempest of bullets, pieces of bursting shells, canis- 
 ter and grape whistle about their ears. They were met by 
 deadly, unseen and unknown dangers in sunken torpedoes, 
 which, when trod upon, exploded, stripping the flesh from 
 their legs and wounding terribly. Fallen trees, abattis, 
 and wire stretched along the ground impeded their way 
 and exposed them longer to the enemy's fire. No reply was 
 made except by our artillery, which pounded away over 
 our heads. In fifteen minutes we had surmounted all the 
 obstructions, climbed their works and given them the 
 bayonet. They fell backward, and dropping their guns, 
 threw up their hands in token of surrender, and our work 
 was done. We were victorious, but 654 of our men, who an 
 hour before were joking and laughing with each other had 
 been laid low. In these fifteen minutes our losses were 
 greater than those on our side in the four revolutionary 
 battles at Lexington, Bunker Hill, Trenton and Bennington. 
 *We captured 3,423 prisoners, forty pieces of artillery, be- 
 sides small arms. The enemy's loss in killed was prob- 
 ably a third as much as ours. General Steele reached the 
 works soon after the capture, and in his squeaky voice ex- 
 claimed: "I knowed you'd do it! I knowed you'd do it!" 
 Those were glorious moments. There are few such in a 
 
(i2 Corhhi's Advice; Or, 
 
 life time; victory had crowned our efforts, the end for 
 which days of toil and nights of wakings had been passed 
 was quickly and gloriously accomplished. At half past 
 three this same afternoon, Lee, at Appomattox had sur- 
 rendered to General G-rant and the war was virtually over 
 two hours before our charge. On the 14th of April our 
 regiment entered triumphantly into tue city of Mobile; 
 lOU guns were fired in honor of this event and glorious 
 victories reported from all quarters. The war was over — 
 the union saved; and all, all, by the boys in blue and the 
 boys in blue alone. 
 
 Mobile, city of 25,000 before the war, was reduced at 
 this time to about 12,000. While the regiment was still 
 rejoicing over the great victories, and as we were steaming 
 up the Alabama river, we received a signal announcing 
 the assassination, on the 14th of President Lincoln and Sec- 
 retary Seward, causing a great revulsion of feeling from 
 the highest exultation to deepest sorrow. On the 24th we 
 landed at Selma, Ala., where we remained in camp a few 
 days only. We returned to Mobile where we remained, 
 performing light guard duty, awaiting developments until 
 June, when the division nuder command Gen. C. C. Andrews 
 sailed for Galveston, Texas. Feeling that the war was 
 closed and our contract filled, the movement was very pro- 
 voking and gave rise to much complaining from the boys. 
 We arrived at Galveston and soon after proceeded to 
 Houston, Texas. Our regiment marched through the 
 streets of the old historic town, the first army of free 
 Yankee soldiers who had ever trod the soil of that region. 
 The dwellings were closed, curtains drawn, the women of 
 that city having sworn never tO' look upon the Yankee. 
 They closed and barred their doors and windows. But it 
 is historically true and should be so recorded, that before 
 the 34th left Houston, many of these ladies smiled sweetly 
 upon the boys in blue, and the leading spirit of them all 
 married a Yankee soldier, and now lives happily with him 
 in Chicago; others became the wives of many union sol- 
 diers. Our stay in Houston was in many respects comfort- 
 able and pleasant, but all were eager, and anxious to re- 
 turn to their homes. We did no't leave Houston, however, 
 until the 17th of August, 1SG5, when the regiment was 
 mustered out of service, and returned to Iowa to peace, 
 rest and home. I would like to tell more but have not the 
 space, and here ends my military history and my twelfth 
 chapter. 
 
 Soak your corn in a solution of saltpetre. It destroys 
 the worms, is not relished by crows or squirrels, and 
 yields much more abundantly than when planted without. 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 63 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MY NINE YEARS EXPERIENCE IN WOLF HUNTING 
 ON THE MISSOURI SLOPE. TESTING THE 
 BOUNTY LAW IN THE COURTS. MY FIGHT WITH 
 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 Part of the minutes of the board of county commission- 
 ers of Burleigh county, N. D., held March 0, 1S96. 
 
 "On motion the petition of W. H. Bratton and thirty-one 
 others, and C. A. Burton and twenty-three others for 
 bounty on wolf scalps be granted and the bounty fixed at 
 $2 per head." 
 
 Part of the minutes of the board of county commission- 
 ers of Burleigh county, N. D., held April G, 1897. 
 
 "On motion it was resolved that from and after this 
 date the county will not pay any bounty on wolf scalps." 
 
 I, W. S. Moorhouse, hereby certify that the above is a 
 true copy of the proceedings of the board of county com- 
 missioners of Burleigh county, N. D., from April, 1891, to 
 November, 1898, as far as they relate to wolf bounties. 
 
 Witness my hand and official seal this 19th day of Novem- 
 ber, 1898. W. S. MOORHOUSE, 
 
 County Auditor. 
 
 It will be remembered that this bounty was put on ac- 
 cording to law and was taken off contrary to law, for the 
 law said when a petition signed by twenty-five stocic 
 raisers and taxpayers was presented they shall put on a 
 bounty not less than $1 nor more than .$3, and they owe 
 me $112. I need the money for the reason that they took 
 off the bounty illegaly and against the will of the tax- 
 payers. At the time they took off the bounty. April 6, 
 1897, there was not over 300 wolves in a% county. Today 
 there are 2,704 — females, 1,352 and with five to the litter, 
 makes 6^760. Then add the old wolves and we have 
 9,464. So you see at $2 bounty for old wolves, $5,408, and 
 the increase at $1 each, $6,760, makes a tota,l of $12,168. 
 So you see in order to beat me out of $112 they have beat 
 the taxpayers out of $12,168 and still have the wolves left. 
 Two-legged wolves help these farmers out and feed them 
 on beef and mutton at 18 cents per pound. 
 
(;4 Corbhi's Advice; Or, 
 
 6,339 
 
 17.00 
 
 65,691 
 
 26.00 
 
 1,350 
 
 150.00 
 
 24,100 
 
 10.00 
 
 20,636 
 
 14.00 
 
 55,576 
 
 17.00 
 
 50 
 
 25.00 
 
 4,925 
 
 25.00 
 
 306 
 
 18.00 
 
 440 
 
 40.00 
 
 15,485 
 
 1.75 
 
 1,478 
 
 3.00 
 
 STATISTICS IN BURLEIGH COUNTY. 
 
 No. Value Average 
 
 Horses 1-year-old 557 $ 5,570 $ 10.00 
 
 Horses 2-year-old 367 
 
 Horses 3-year-old 2,502 
 
 Stallions 9 
 
 Cattle 1-year-old 2,410 
 
 Cattle 2-year-old 1 ,474 
 
 Cattle 3-year-old 3,268 
 
 Work oxen 2 
 
 All other cattle 197 
 
 Mules and asses 1-year-old 17 
 
 Mules and asses 3-year-old 11 
 
 Sheep 8,847 
 
 Hogs 516 
 
 Number of old wolves, 2,704; increase, 6,760; total, 9,464. 
 Number of females, five to the litter,l,352. Wolf tax levy, 
 $432.93. Number of wolves killed in 1899,150. 
 
 Real property, .$2,164,632; personal, 513,376; railroad, 
 .$257,981; total valuation, .$2,935,989. State appropriation 
 for wolf bounty, $587.19. Square miles,l,662. Wolves in 
 county, 9,464. Wolves to each section, five and a half. 
 
 Now hear the tone of the Mandan Pioneer. Morton 
 county is the home of the wolf. They are raised in Mor- 
 ton county and the county never pays any bounty, and she 
 is overrun with wolves. The damage done to stock and 
 poultry in Morton county alone would pay .$10 per head 
 for every old wolf in the county. There is no way that you 
 can help yourself, for you have let Ike matter run too long. 
 I told everybody four years ago that without a larger 
 bounty they would be there by the thousands and you 
 can't help it. I can catch hundreds of young wolves, but 
 I can't shoot and trap but a few old ones. Gray hounds 
 are the best thing, but I am too old for that. Have your 
 gray hounds and stag hounds and have an extra team and 
 a swing door to let the hounds out at the right time and 
 put on a decent bounty for the hunter. 
 
 Prom the Mandan Pioneer: The stockmen of this com- 
 munity are confronted with a serious problem concerning 
 the means to be employed in getting rid of the large grey 
 wolves which are playing such havoc with young stock. 
 These wolves have increased during the past year in such 
 numbers as to cause serious losses to many of the ranch- 
 men. Such a vigorous hunt is being made for them in 
 South Dakota and eastern Montana that they are driven 
 to this section of the country where owing to the small 
 bounty offered for their hides it does not pay hunters to 
 make a business of shooting them. In some instances 
 these wolves have been so bold in their search for young 
 meat as to drive the cattle intO' the ranchmen's correls. 
 They prefer to kill their own meat and like it best when 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 65 
 
 warm and will devour the hind quarters of a colt and leave 
 the rest to rot on the prairie. They seem to single out 
 stock less than a year old but in some cases have been 
 known to kill 2-year-old colts and cattle. One ranchman 
 living on the Cannon Ball lost six head in one night. They 
 will travel twenty miles in order to secure a particularly 
 choice meal. The question of how to exterminate these 
 beasts is quite a serious one with the ranchmen and one 
 that is being discussed with a view of taking the best pos- 
 sible action. 
 
 o 
 
 STATISTICS OP MORTON COUNTY. 
 
 No. Value Average 
 
 Horses 1-year-old 1,115 $11,150 $10.00 
 
 Horses 2-year-old 1,395 32,715 17.00 
 
 Horses 3-year-old 4,030 124,824 26.00 
 
 Stallions 20 3,000 150.00 
 
 Cattle 1-vear-old 7,202 72,020 10.00 
 
 Cattle 2-year-old 6.036 85,252 14.00 
 
 Cattle 3-year-old 3,703 148,307 17.00 
 
 Work oxen 2 50 25.00 
 
 All other cattle 1,383 34,575 25.00 
 
 Mules and asses. 9 360 40.00 
 
 Sheep 25,800 45,150 1.75 
 
 Hogs 1,849 3,147 3.00 
 
 Number of sections In Morton county, 2,916. Number of 
 old wolves, 4,040; increase, 10,100; total, 14,140. Wolves 
 to the section seven. Wolf tax levy, $579.44. More two- 
 legged wolves. This time five in place of three. Morton 
 county has five county commissioners. On the 6th day 
 of April, 1897, Burleigh county took off the county bounty 
 and then I had to extend my wolf farm farther south to 
 Beaver creek and give up the south half of Burleigh county. 
 I told my son, Charley if he would go to Morton county 
 and get signers enough I would pay all expenses, so he did 
 and got thirty-six of the bigest stockmen in the county 
 signers. I sent in the petition and the board would not 
 allow the bounty. Notwithstanding the law says they shall 
 put on a bounty (it don't say they may but says posiitively 
 they shall put on a bounty) not less than .$1 nor more 
 than $3. So you see what the two-legged wolves know. 
 The county commissioners narbor the wolves at, the ex- 
 pense of your pocket, while they fill their own pockets. 
 
 o 
 
 Complaints come from Wyoming that wolves are more 
 than usually destructive to cattlt there; and from several 
 other western states, even Minnesota, that wolves are more 
 prone to attack young cattle thac formerly; or in other 
 words that they seem disposed to vary their diet of mutton 
 with occasional morsels of beef. 
 
66 Corhhi's Advice; Or, 
 
 FROM THE RECORDS OF THE OFFICIAL PROCEED- 
 INGS OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSION- 
 ERS OF EMMONS COUNTY. 
 
 "In Book No. 1, on page 290: Meeting of the board of 
 county commissioners held July 6, 1S91. Present, Hy 
 Van Beek, chairman; Greorge H. McLain and Dugald Camp- 
 bell, commissioners. Benj. Cor bin handed in a petition 
 signed by over twenty-five stock raisers of Emmons 
 county, praying that the board offer a bounty on wolves 
 killed within said county, and in accordance with an 
 act approved March 11, 1891, the board allowed a bounty 
 of .$1 on all wolves or coyotes killed in the county." 
 
 The above petition was handed in to the county commis- 
 sioners on April 1, 1891 and not allowed until July the 6th. 
 By this time the cub wolves were big as old wolves, and 
 now state bounty and county bounty certificates were 60 
 cents on the dollar and the law says the bounty shall not 
 be less than $1 nor over $3. Here the county board 
 should bide faith at a low ebb. Nevertheless I never 
 caught a wox. that year, but went right on hoeing in my 
 garden, and catching catfish at .5 cents per pound. Cat- 
 fish is great brain frood and I had to do this to cope with 
 the county board, and being the first of April, third day 
 (on page 396, Book No. 1) of meeting of the board of 
 county commissioners of Emmons county. All members 
 of the board present. Benj. Corbin presented a petition 
 with thirty-four signatures asking the board to increase 
 the bounty on wolves froim .$1 to .$2. On motion the peti- 
 tion was granted and on all wolves killed on or ar^er 
 April 1, 1892. This time I called for $2 and got it. I 
 soon learned that I had to do the work and knew better 
 what it was worth, and at this time I caught eighty-one 
 wolves in thiity-five days, over three a day. The bounty 
 was $4, $2 county and $2 state, discount, 25 per cent. 
 
 "In Book No. 1, page 4.57: Meeting of board of county 
 commissioners of Emmons county held April 28, 1894. 
 All members of the board present. A petition signed by 
 the requisite number of stock raisers, praying the board 
 to grant a bounty of $2 on each wolf scalp was presented. 
 On motion the board fixed the bounty to be paid for wolf 
 scalps at $1 each." 
 
 On notice being given througn the county record that 
 hereafter the county won't pay any wolf bounty — still 
 the wolf record showed that the wolf bounty never had 
 been recorded as talked of, and on the face of the above 
 petition the board fixed the bounty at $1. 
 
 Little did they think that a copy of wolf record would 
 ever be called for and they could levy this for their own 
 
The Wolf Hiinter^s Guide. 67 
 
 use. The peifcition was for $2 and got $1; called for bread 
 and was given a stone. Now here's the tone of the next 
 meeting, April 2, 1S95. This is the first time on record 
 shows where the bounty ever was taken off. 
 
 "In Book No. 1, on page 517: Meeting of board of 
 county commissioners held April 2, 1895. All members 
 present. On motion it was resolved by the board that 
 the bounty of $1 heretofore paid for wolf scalps be dis- 
 continued from and after this date. In Book No. 1, on 
 page 521: Meeting of board of countv commissioneirs 
 of Emmons county held April 2, 18f)5. All members 
 present. On motion the county auditor was authorized 
 to refuse to issue a certificate of indebtedness to Edward 
 Abbott for bounty claimed for wolf scalps and allowed 
 March 2, 1895, for the reason that said aflldavit is believed 
 to be fraudulent." 
 
 It will be remembered thaJt this Edward Abbott was the 
 man that shipped the wolf scalps in from Chicago and was 
 putting them off on several counties and was caught and 
 sent to the pen for three years. 
 
 "In Book No. 1, page 545: Meeting of board of county 
 commissioners of Emmons county. N. D., held September 
 2 189o Present, Geo. H. McLain, chairman; William 
 
 ^nnf ^ ^K ^. ^'^^" ^'°^^' ^commissioners. B^n CoS 
 
 appeared before the board, claiming that the county 
 
 bounty on wolves was illegally taken off, and asked that 
 
 his taxes for 1893 and 1894 be abated on account of the 
 
 ^leZ.l7t^ ""l !"°^ '^^^^^ ^^^ ^'^"-^^ ^^- taken off 
 T^l uf .^ ^'^""^^Z ^° ^^^^^ ^^« request. In Book i page 
 508: Meeting of the board of county commissioners of 
 Emmons county, N. D., held Januari- 6, 1^96 PreseM 
 William Margach, Franz Wolf and A^ex. ' MacDonrid the 
 latter having duly qualified. William Margach was 
 
 Wd with'rt"'-.. ^""^:- -^^^'^'^^ -PP^--^ be"-e Th^ 
 Doard with a written opinion from the Hon Attorn^^v 
 
 wXf kilfed bv'T'"' ^- '^ ^^'^ ^^^ ^--ty ofToS 
 wolves killed by him during the year 1895 tne attornpv 
 
 f^f:^:^Z7t\''''.''^''''''' '^-' the com^i^fS 
 seel on 1 Phi. ^^V""^^ '^^ ^°^^^« i^ accordance with 
 ac?ian XTT.'l '^'J^^' °^ ^^^^' ^'^^^^ not rescind their 
 Cnvhf^ °h ^?^'?;^ conformity thereto, allowed Mr. 
 
 Corbm uhe amount of $80. 
 
 In book 1, page 572: Meeting of the board of countv 
 commissioners of Emmons county, North Dakota, held 
 January 6, 1S9G. 
 
 The question as to whether there is at present any county 
 bounty on wolves was referred to the states attorney for 
 his opinion." 
 
 You will see by the above that on January 6, 1896, the 
 county board got so badly mixed that they could not tell 
 whether they had any wolf bounty or not, and then applied 
 
68 Corbin^s Advice ; Or, 
 
 to the btate's attorney to know if they had any county 
 bounty. Attorney never answered. Great set of officers. 
 
 "In book 1, pages 584, 5S5, 580 and 587: Meeting of the 
 board cf county commissioners of Emmons county, North 
 Dakota, held February 28, 180(5. 
 
 Petition signed by twenty-five stockraisers of Emmons 
 county praying for a bounty on wolves, was presented. 
 On motion the board placed a bounty of one dollar on all 
 wolves Inlled in Emmons county from March 1, 189G. 
 
 Meeting held — evening session. The question of bounty 
 
 Mr. Benjamin Corbin appeared before the board with a 
 petition signed by forty-six signers, praying for a bounty of 
 $2 on young wolves, and $.'i on old ones. Mr. Dugald 
 Campbell addressed the board ©n the subject, also Mr. H, 
 A. Armstrong. 
 
 Moved by Commissioner MacDonald that a bounty of 
 $2 on young wolves and .$3 on old wolves be paid by Em- 
 mons county. Not seconded. 
 
 Moved by Commissioner Wolf that a bounty of .$2 on all 
 wolves killed in Emmons county be allowed. Not sec- 
 onded. 
 
 Meeting held — evening session. The question of bounty 
 on wolves was further considered. 
 
 On motion of Commissioner Wolf, the following resolu- 
 tion was moved and carried: 
 
 Resolved, That an additional bounty of one dollar on all 
 wolves or coyotes killed within the county of Emmons by 
 residents thereof, between April 0, ISIX), and January 1, 
 
 1807, be and hereby is added to the county bounty already 
 existing. 
 
 Resolved, That a further bounty of one dollar on all full 
 grown wolves or coyotes killed as aforesaid prior to the 
 Fourth of July, 180(5, be added to the $2 bounty above pro- 
 vided for. 
 
 In book 2, page 100: Meeting of board of county com- 
 missioners of Emmons county. North Dakota, held April 5,^ 
 
 1808. All members present. 
 
 Benjamin Corbin presented a petition to the board signed 
 by twenty-five citizens of the county, asking that the county 
 commissioners place a bounty on wolves in conformity to 
 section 15(50 of the Revised Codes of North Dakota. 
 
 On motion the following resolution was adopted: 
 
 That whereas, Benjamin Corbin appeared before the 
 board with a petition signed by the requisite number of 
 stockraisers of the county, praying that the present bounty 
 of one dollar on wolves ba increased to the sum of two 
 dollars. 
 
 Resol^ved, That after due consideration of said petition,, 
 considering the financial condition of the county, it is 
 deemed inadvisable to further increase the drafts upon the 
 treasury by an increase of the bounty on wolves, said pe- 
 tition is hereby rejected." 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 69 
 
 I then laid my bill before the county board for .$195 just 
 denied me on account of the wolf bounty which had been 
 illegally taken off. The county board then refused to pay 
 the same for the following reason: As following bill oi 
 Benjamin Corbin for .$19.5 bounty on wolves was rejected 
 for the reason that during the period covered by this bill 
 a county bounty of only one dollar was allowed on each 
 scalp presented to the auditor. As I had gone according 
 to law, and the county commissioners hadn't got a word of 
 law by which they had any show to cut the bounty down. 
 
 The county commissioners, or rather Emmons county, to 
 test the law whether the county commissioners had the 
 right to cut off the bounty agents, the will of the taxpayer 
 and the stockman. I have paid all of the costs, about 
 $25, and it is a test case and was all turned over to Judge 
 Winchester last November and the county commissioners 
 were to have thirty days. It has been over a hundred 
 days and they haven't sent in their briefs yet. I have paid 
 all the costs, so their share is all in, and I can whistle. 
 They will hear the whistle, however, and that soon. The 
 election comes off this fall and their name is Dennis. 
 
 I have now shown by the wolf record that the county 
 board could not tell whether they had any county bounty 
 or not, and as word had gotten out again that the county 
 board had taken off the bounty again, so the stockmen 
 rustled 25 signers for a bounty, and so the board at their 
 meeting February 28, 1896, placed on a bounty of one 
 dollar. I had sent a large petition calling for ,$2 bounty 
 and the county board knew that I had a petition so they 
 slapped on one dollar bounty to- head me off. And lo and 
 behold my man S. A. Hawks had not delivered my petition. 
 I then waited until their regular meeting held April 0, 1896. 
 I then rustled forty-six of the heaviest taxpayers to my 
 petition, calling for .$2 on young wolves, and $3 on old 
 wolves. It is over twenty miles from Glencoe to Williams- 
 port, and on the appointed day I hitched to a two-horse 
 bi-iggy ''ind laid up my petition. This only lacked four 
 signers of being twice as many as I needed. I buckled on 
 the breast plate of righteousness and was shod with the 
 whole armor of God, and when the board met and I spoke to 
 one of the board that I had a little matter that I wished 
 to call their attention to in the shape of a decent wolf 
 bounty. So they said they would listen to me. So i 
 pulled out my petition and like the old women in the army 
 I told them that it came from heaven's authority. So I 
 handed my petition, signed by forty six of the biggest tax- 
 payers in the county, and stock raisers, and told them if 
 I was down in Iowa I could borrow money on that petition. 
 I only had to talk about one hour. I told the board the 
 amount of damage they had done in the la-st year, how my 
 sheep and calves were destroyed, and the families along 
 
70 Corbin's Advice; Or, 
 
 the river had all their chickens and turkeys all killed, and 
 packed off by the wolves until there wasn't a chicken left 
 to make broth when one of the family was sick, and that 
 the women did not have a dozen eggs to sell to get a 
 calico dress to wear for her or the children, and were 
 obliged to stay at home on account of not a decent dress 
 to wear to church. And without a larger bounty the 
 wolves would eat up all the stock until there would not be 
 any left to levy a tax on to raise the money to pay the 
 county officers their salary, and we would not be bothered 
 with county officers, for if there was no stock to levy a tax 
 on to pay the county officers now none would want a county 
 office, for it was the money that they were after and that 
 is the reason they want the wolf hunter to catch the wolves 
 and board himself— for that reason they wanted all the 
 moiney themselves, and how none would want an office only 
 for the money. About this time they thought I was right 
 and Mr. Dougald Campbell, Emmons county, biggest stock- 
 man in the county, addressed the board in my favor and 
 also Mr. H. A. Armstrong addressed the board in my favor, 
 who was the county attorney at that time. I then told 
 them if they did not give me $2 for young wolves, and $3 
 on old wolves, I would not pick up my Winchester. They 
 might keep their wolves, it would only be a few years 
 until it would cost the county $10,000 to kill all the wolves 
 in the county. So they finally allowed me the above 
 bounty, $2 for kids and $3 for old ones, and at the present 
 there are 2,208 and the increase is over 0,000 and at $2 
 bounty. Eight thousand three hundred and twenty-eight 
 wolves at $2 per head makes a total of $16,056. Now not 
 only Emmons county, but the whole state is in the same 
 boat. • 
 
 ^o^ 
 
 STATISTICS OP EMMONS COUNTY. 
 
 No. Value Average 
 
 Horses 1-year-old 906 $9,060 $10.00 
 
 Horses 2-year-old 1,487 25,279 17.00 
 
 Horses 3-year-old 2,205 57,840 2(] . oO 
 
 Stallions 18 2,900 150.00 
 
 Cattle 1-year-old 3,953 39,629 10.00 
 
 Cattle 2-year-old 3,157 4,198 14.00 
 
 Cattle 3-year-old 4,232 71,944 17.00 
 
 All other cattle 569 14,225 25 . 00 
 
 Mules and asses 22 592 
 
 Sheep 20,160 25,280 1.75 
 
 Hogs 1,078 3,210 
 
 Number of wolves, 2,208; females, 1,104; increase, 5,520; 
 total, 7,728. Number tO" section, five; killed in 1899, 350. 
 Amount paid in wolf tax, $225. 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. ' 71 
 
 CHAPTER XIII, 
 
 WOLVES WILL SOON OUTNUMBER ALL OTHER 
 ANIMALS COMBINED IN THE STATE. 
 
 There being 1,207,500 wolves in Nor^a Dakota, and allow- 
 ing two pounds of beef per day at 5 cents per pound (less 
 than market price) to feed them it will take to feed them 
 for one year 881,475 steers of 1,000 pounds each, worth 
 $44,070,750, The wolves will outnumber all other stock 
 after July 4, 1900. 
 
 If there should be no future increase of wolves in three 
 years they would eat meals at the above figures, to the 
 value of $132,212,250, considerable more than the total 
 val^iation ($114,334,428.) of the state. 
 
 If each man kills 100 wolves it would take 12,075 men 
 to kill the present wolf crop in one year. During the three 
 months after May 1, 1900, 862,500 young wolves are born» 
 or 9,583 per day. 
 
 If 50,000 wolves are killed this summer, next year (1901) 
 at their rate of increases, there will be 5,208,750 wolves at 
 large in North Dakota. 
 
 There was in North Dakota in 1899, 233,547 horses; 306,- 
 784 cattle; 3,907 mules and asses: 205,247 sheep; 58,657 
 hogs; grand total of 868,142 animals. 
 
 There is a time for all things; a time to catch the young 
 wolves, and let the old ones go because you can't help it. 
 Corbin's system is the best for killing more tnan all the 
 rest. The shortest way to trap a wolf is to decoy the wolf 
 with a scent, and not with a bait and at the same time 
 have your poison and trap where the wolf as any other 
 animal will find both. While he is hunting for the scent, for 
 this secret alone a charge of $1, and will not tell it for less; 
 it is worth $50 to a wolf hunter. 
 
 In the year 1898 the wolf crop was 100,000; 50,000 
 were females, five to the litter, was 250,000; 7,000 was 
 killed, which left 843,000 for 1899. Now we have this 
 343,000 to start on for the banner year, 1900, one-half of 
 this number are females, which is 171,500 increase, and five 
 to the litter makes 87r,500; old ones, 343,000; total, 1,220,- 
 500. 
 
Corbin''s Advice ; Or, 
 
 AN INTERESTING TRIP. 
 
 The story of my trip is this: John Yegen told me that 
 he would pay me $5 if I should kill a female woif that had 
 been raising her young on his turkeys, etc. So I went 
 there, camped out, as usual, found her den, but failed to 
 catch her that time. So I dug out her cubs; looked them 
 over with a hunter's eye, and figuring accurately as astron- 
 omers do on an eclipse, I saw that she would return to that 
 den and replenish it again on the Gth day of May following. 
 So promptly at that time next season I was there. 
 
 At a glance I saw the dog woif sneaking off, and I knew 
 the mate was not far away. So I grasped my Winchester, 
 and at the same moment the female ran out of the den 
 and I shot her. Performing the Caesarian operation, I soon 
 had the cubs, as yet unborn. There were four of them 
 alive and kicking, and using the appliance used for deli- 
 cate babies, I soon had four likely little pets and I then 
 went to the den, dug it out and found two more pups, six 
 in all. I laid them down beside their dead mother for 
 their first meals and this is according to Scripture, "although 
 you may be dead you yet shan live." I then loaded them 
 in the wagon, as the county commissioners had just taken 
 the county bounty off. I saw my chance to place it back 
 on again. I drove to the capital city, Bismarck of course, 
 bought a rubber tit, and a pint of sweet milk and kept 
 them on the bottle for three days, drove around the town 
 with the outfit in the wagon, showed it up in good shape, 
 got about thirty men to sign my petition to place the bounty 
 back on; thirty men such as Judge Winchester, I. P. Baker, 
 Joseph Hare, Mr. Patterson and many others, and I also 
 had a decision of the attorney general that they could not 
 rescind the order when once put on by petition signed by 
 twenty-five stock raisers. Still they didn't restore the 
 bounty. 
 
 Whenever the wolves are seen as near after the 20th of 
 April in certain localities, or often heard howling nights 
 and mornings for ten days or more, it is a sure thing that 
 they are living close by, and that is the place to go to look 
 for the den, or their nest as some folks call it, and although 
 you may not be able to find it, it is on that quarter section 
 all the same. If it is rough land and water they probably 
 filed on a reservoir claim. If it is a valley it is a hay 
 claim, and they have taken it to hide their cubs in when 
 they leave the den about the 1st of July. If it is a rough 
 and stony piece of land they have taken it for a pre-emp- 
 tion and are only holding it for breeding purposes, and 
 when you go to look for the den go on horse back, or in a 
 buggy. Never go in a wagon, the rattle of the wagon 
 scares them away and they will go off on some high hill 
 and lay down and watch you and you wont never see them 
 but they are watching all the same. 
 
The Wolf Hunter's Guide. 73 
 
 In looking for the den when you know by the sign that 
 the den is close by this kind of sign, first new den dug 
 and wolf tracks on the den, fresh tracks in bare places, 
 and fresh beds in high grass, a fresh bed in a little brush 
 thicket, and the birds nests just broken up and the eggs 
 sucked, and where they have a calf leg or sheep legs, or 
 where they have just dug out a piece of meat that they 
 have had buried. These are sure signs that the den is 
 close by and you ought to see one or both of the old wolves 
 by this time; but it may be that they have seen you all the 
 time. But the best sign is to see one or both of the old 
 wolves sneaking around and ir they bark at you that is 
 a sure sign that the den is close. Now if you can't find 
 them go back in the evening or early in the morning with 
 a ten-foot pole in your buggy, and your dog tied to the end 
 of the pole, and drive in a circle and the closer you get 
 to the den the closer to the wolf, as wolves will come to 
 you. But don't shoot until you find the den for this is 
 the way I make the old wolf teii me where her kids are, but 
 if she jumps your dog shoot her or him as the case may 
 be, for the den is close, and you can then find it an5n\'ay. 
 Sometimes the den is on nice level ground. Sometimes 
 they go in a washout. Sometimes in the rock, or if you 
 are in a timber country they have them in a hollow log, 
 or a hollow tree#. or hollow stump. They have them in 
 a tree-lap on the ground. Sometimes in a 'small brush 
 thicket. Sometimes on tne highest hill they can geL. 
 Other times down in the hollow. 
 
 I would ten tiroies rather go in and show you how I find 
 them than to attempt to describe it on paper. 
 
 The true sign is this, after May lOch, in North Dakota, 
 you will find fresh dens cleaned out; one wolf will have as 
 many as fifteen or twenty aens cleaned out for two weeks 
 before they have their pups. I commence to hunt about 
 the 10th of May, but about the 1st of June is the best time 
 to find them with lictle work, because the cubs by that 
 time has played probably fifty yards from the den and 
 their path is easy to see, and very often the cubs are 
 around the den, when you might get your eye on them; but 
 as a general thing they never come out of the den until 
 just about sun down, and when they are a month old the 
 grass is all trampled down and worn off smooth around 
 the den. There will be a lot chicken wings, and duck 
 wings lying around the den, and a calf leg here and a 
 sheep leg there, and swing them on the corners. The 
 wolf breeds once a year and lives to be 20 years old. 
 
74 Corhiri's Advice ; Or, 
 
 PSALM OF DAVID. 
 
 1. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. 
 
 2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he 
 leadeth me beside the still waters. 
 
 3. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in -the paths 
 of righteousness for his name's sake. 
 
 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the 
 shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me, 
 thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 
 
 5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence 
 of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup 
 runneth over. 
 
 0. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the 
 days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord- 
 forever. 
 
 BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN 1900. 
 
 The 1900 census show that the population of our coun- 
 try will not be found tO' exceed 75,000,000. 
 
 The fact that a baby will be born every twelve seconds 
 during 1900, shows that 2,475,000 fresh citizens will be 
 added to the country in 1900. At the same time of course,, 
 people will continue to die. To keep up their departure 
 the passing bell must toll every twenty-three seconds, 
 ushering 1,350,000 Americans out of the world during the 
 twelve months. 
 
 Every twenty-four seconds, however, a marriage will 
 occur, and it is a comfort to know that five cradles will 
 be supplied with occupants every minute in the twenty- 
 four hours throughout the last year of the nineteenth 
 century. 
 
 FROM CATTLE TO SHEEP. 
 
 Wyoming is fast becoming tne sheepmen's country, and 
 it is only a question of a few years When they will possess 
 the state. Only five firms in the western portion still range 
 cattle there. All the country south of Rawlings has been 
 given up to the sheepmen, and firms that formerly ranged 
 cattle have been forced to change their holdings into sheep. 
 One cattleman says he is surrounded by sheep, but, having 
 purchased a large tract of country from the Union Pacific, 
 he has succeeded in holding his range. The business is 
 being overdone in that section, ana there is a disposition on 
 the part of some of the sheepmen to sell and get out, and 
 it is probable that a large number of sheep will be thrown 
 upon the market this season. — National Stockmen. 
 
The Wolf Hunter^s Guide, 
 
 75 
 
 A BRIEF SKETCH OF MY LIFE. 
 
 I was born in the state of ignorance; immigrated to the 
 state of starvation, and have made a gooa living since, 
 learned to read, buying newspapers while in the army; 
 learned to count, counting wolf scalps since I have been 
 in the business; and learned to write signing mortgages. 
 BENJAMIN COxiBIN, Glencoe, N. D. 
 
 COYOTE. — A carnivorous animal (canis latrans), allied 
 to the dog, found in the western part of North America — 
 called also prairie wolf. Its voice is a snapping bark, fol- 
 lowed by prolonged, shrill howl. 
 
 GRAY WOLVES. 
 
 The stockmt.n of western Nebraska, South Dakota, Colo- 
 rado and Wyoming are having a vast amount of trouble 
 with gray wolves, which are very numerous and so destruc- 
 tive to cattle that they intend to have a convention to talk 
 the matter over and see if some plan cannot be devised for 
 ridding the country of the pests. Irrigation Age tells that 
 in western Nebraska these pests are particularly numerous. 
 The losses are increasing yearly, and the stockmen say 
 that the gray wolf is becoming as great a curse to north- 
 western Nebraska as the jack rabbit is to Australia. 
 
 Mr. Bryan has developed other strong qualities which 
 tend to add lo the detestation in which he is held by the 
 republican press. In Texas recently he went with a party 
 01 Texas rangers on a hunt and lassoed a panther. And 
 now the venal republican press insinuates that the panther 
 was the pet of a citizen of Austin, and that Mr. Bryan was 
 imposed upon. Nevertheless, in tackling the brute Mr. 
 Bryan showed his courage. There are plenty of pet var- 
 mints in Washington who will have to hunt their holes or 
 be strangled when Mr. Bryan becomes president and starts: 
 out with his lasso. 
 
76 
 
 CorbirVs Advice ; Or, 
 
 To make yoiiv hens lay perpetually. Give your hens 
 half an ounce of fresh meat, chopped fine, once a day, while 
 the ground is frozen, and they cannot get worms or insects; 
 allow no males to run with them, and they will lay per- 
 petually. Try it. 
 
 They also require plenty of grain, water, gravel, and 
 Jime. 
 
k 
 
UN 15 1900 
 
wmtm 
 
 mmmmmmmm 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 002 903 992 6 
 
 i .iij iii| Miw ii n i »ifliW<mtmiM ! Uii i |imn